Spicy thoughts

[gfish]

I've been thinking about Dune technology recently. Why didn't they just make Spice Harvesters that didn't involve rhythmic vibrations? Obviously industrial processes will always create vibrations, but do they have to be rhythmic? Stochastic Mechanical Engineering could be a major field of study at Arrakeen University.

Comments

[stolen-tea.livejournal.com]

I suspect any sort of terrestrial locomotion (treads, wheels, etc.) would involve enough sound, though; worms can pick up individual people, after all.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

Locomotion isn't the problem. Spice harvesters are carried in by a "carryall wing," which I suppose is an oversized ornithopter. The problem is that separating spice from sand is done by centrifuge.

[stolen-tea.livejournal.com]

My impression from the books was that harvesters moved about on the surface of the desert to clean out a spice patch, and were not stationary installations put down and picked up by carryalls. Or maybe I'm too influenced by Dune 2. :)

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

Definitely too much Dune 2. I just re-read the scene in Dune where a harvester is swallowed by a sandworm when the carryall goes missing.