Written by Connor Bouffard
The world of Dune places a very high importance on face-to-face communication. Apart from a select few pieces of radio technology such as ear pieces and a general communications system, all interaction is done face to face. This naturally means that speed of communication is significantly hindered by not only their technology, but their access to it.
The radio technology of Dune appears to act almost identical to the technology we have today, being able to transmit a voice to another location. However, it seems only a few individuals have access to the technology, meaning instant communication at distance is a luxury for a select group. As well, it is directly mentioned that the moon of Arrakis interferes with the communications systems, presumably by blocking the signal. This means that even those with the access to these radio technologies may not find them reliable, and long-distance communications can be hindered at any time.
In lieu of the radio, or when it is not feasible to use, many of the people of Dune prefer to utilize face-to-face communication. However, the main issue that presents itself from this way of life is the fact that the speed of communication is limited by how fast a person can physically travel to the destination of their message. This leads to the network of communication in Dune being not only incredibly slow, but also very unconnected. Where, on Earth, our computer networks can have thousands of machines that are each capable of talking with each other simultaneously, Dune is only able to have a few links in their network where representatives are able to transport themselves along with the information to be sent.
While the world of Dune is incredibly hindered by the lack of a centralized computer network when it comes to the sharing and dissemination of information, the lack of a computer network does bring with it a few benefits. There are many negatives that come with instant mass communication that the world of Dune is able to avoid, such as spam, cyberbullying, and the rapid spread of false information. However, even without such infrastructure in place, these issues can still arise albeit at a much slower rate. In general, the lack of instant communication in the world of Dune is a negative as it severely worsens the ability for the political communication on which Dune thrives.