The Machine Crusade (Legends of Dune, #2)
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Read between May 24 - July 3, 2022
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The weakness of thinking machines is that they actually believe all the information they receive, and react accordingly.
3%
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Yes, a committee will ensure a complete lack of resolution on the issue. Hosten Fru was a seemingly incompetent politician who blocked League business with inane problems, making the cumbersome government appear as ineffectual as the passive Old Empire. No one knew that the Hagal representative was one of Iblis’s secret allies. It served Iblis’s purposes perfectly: the more people saw how incapable the League Assembly was of solving simple problems, especially during crises, the more decisions were relegated to the Jihad Council, which he controlled
Rachel
Ew
6%
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On Giedi Prime, Vergyl also met and fell in love with Sheel. They had been married for thirteen years, had two sons, Emilo and Jisp, and a daughter, Ulana.
Rachel
Jisp!
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the colossal paired sculptures of Mohammed and Buddha.
Rachel
sculpture of Mohammad, eh?
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Humans are inclined to take irrational actions because their religions give them the righteous high ground.
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“Which God do you mean? The God of Navachristianity? Of Buddislam? The Deislamic Force? The Pan-Hindu Overlords of the Seventh Circle? I do not comprehend the differences well enough.
Rachel
Interesting list of future religions
14%
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Unfortunately, some wars are won by the side that is the most fanatical in a religious sense. The victorious leaders harness the holy energy of collective insanity.
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“You have taken my words out of context. Have you read the entire scroll, Iblis Ginjo? I believe it is several million words long, and it took me centuries to compile.” “I scanned it for ideas. You inspired me.” “Important concepts must be absorbed in their totality. Do not attempt to interpret scriptures while wearing blinders in order to suit your own purposes.”
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“The blood of innocents has always been the currency of charismatic leaders,”
Rachel
Yikes. And true.
19%
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practice until you no longer exist as an individual. There can be no separation between mind and body. You must become no more than living, fluid combat moves.
27%
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He knew full well that these people represented cannon fodder in the Jihad, but only through their sacrifice could the conquest succeed, given enough zealots and adequate time. There would no longer be any such thing as a defeat—only victories and “moral victories.”
Rachel
Yikes
32%
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War: A manufactory that produces desolation, death, and secrets.
42%
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Nothing is ever as it seems. With appropriate equations I can prove this. —NORMA CENVA,
Rachel
Lol
45%
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in between war engagements, Xavier dabbled as a gentleman farmer himself, much as ancient Roman officers had during times of peace.
54%
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two cartons of sealed, unused electronic notepads.
Rachel
WAT
60%
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She was the sum total of her ancestry, the exquisite convergence of all generations … though only on the female side.
61%
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molding every feature, reshaping her new body with the available cellular material—into an icily beautiful, tall and statuesque female form, more stunning than any other Sorceress of Rossak. Even surpassing Zufa Cenva.
Rachel
Because Aurelius might love her however she looks, but the authors don't want to write romantic stuff featuring a less than beautiful woman.
61%
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Any evidence of unrest was dealt with severely. He blasted a globule of concentrated flame gel, igniting a fleeing woman into a candle of human flesh. She took two staggering steps before collapsing into a pile of stripped bones on the ground.
Rachel
JINGLES!
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His resource-rich homeworld, Rodale IX, had later been renamed “Ix.”
Rachel
Oh, interesting!
68%
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As a leader, she still frowned on the practice of slavery, but her highest priority was to win the Jihad and save the human race from extermination.
Rachel
sigh
68%
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Xavier looked like the ideal military officer, but did not meet her gaze for very long. That had been his pattern since marrying Octa.
Rachel
What? I mean, I know this is sexist, but I still don't understand...well, I guess I don't even understand what don't understand. Just...what?
70%
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“This planet is just a giant dune,” complained one of the gaunt, sunburned refugees,
Rachel
eyeroll emoji
72%
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But your time with him is only a memory, while I am your reality. Can you live with that?” Leronica did not hesitate at all before agreeing. And so they were married, one of sixteen quick ceremonies that took place in the fishing villages. Few of the bridegrooms looked troubled; instead, they seemed unable to believe their good fortune in obtaining attractive wives they had previously thought beyond their reach.
Rachel
GROSS. I mean ffs, really? Thousands of millennia from now and women will still need to get emergency husbands to provide for (other men's) babies? Yuck yuck yuck.
72%
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This good, hardworking man seemed entirely satisfied with what he had … and Leronica tried to feel the same.
Rachel
Ugh
77%
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His genetics were perfect, thanks to Norma’s internal tinkering during the process of conception. She had found that she could visualize and guide her reproductive system, permitting only the optimum sperm and egg to unite.
Rachel
o...k
78%
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had no particular desire to fly in one of the superfast ships himself. He flew first to Rossak and from there caught a commercial passenger vessel departing for Salusa Secundus from one of the orbiting space hubs. The pace of both passages seemed plodding and tormentingly slow.
Rachel
bit of a contradiction
81%
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platters of spiced eggs and steaming fish-and-potato hash,
Rachel
yum
83%
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We have waited long enough. It is time. —COGITOR VIDAD, Thoughts from Isolated Objectivity
Rachel
Not every thought is notable, even if--perhaps especially if--you're just a brain in a jar. Literally all you do is make thoughts endlessly. This one could be about lunch, ffs. It's not a quote for the ages.
91%
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Though her body remained statuesque and beautiful, Norma Cenva had reverted to her old habits of working obsessively, and alone.
Rachel
why the fuck wouldn't she? do tall people--er, STATUESQUE people--work less hard than short people?