Butlerian Jihad

The ancient crusade that outlawed thinking machines in the Dune universe.

The Butlerian Jihad is a conflict in Frank Herbert's Dune universe, taking place over 11,000 years in the future and over 10,000 years before the events of Dune, which results in the total destruction of virtually all forms of "computers, thinking machines, and conscious robots". With the prohibition "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind," even the simplest thinking machines are outlawed, which has a profound influence on the socio-political and technological development of humanity in the series.

Quick Facts

Commandment: Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind
Time: Over 10,000 years before Dune
Prequel trilogy: Legends of Dune (2002–2004)

Facts from the source article.

Background

In God Emperor of Dune (1981), Leto II Atreides indicates that the Jihad had been a semi-religious social upheaval initiated by humans who felt repulsed by how guided and controlled they had become by machines. Herbert died in 1986, leaving the events of the Jihad unexplored. The Legends of Dune prequel trilogy (2002–2004) by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson presents it as a war between humans and the sentient machines they had created, under the AI program Omnius, which usurps control from the Titans.