The Mentats

Humans trained to think like the computers the Butlerian Jihad outlawed.

A Mentat is a type of human in Frank Herbert's Dune universe. In a society that fears a return of artificial intelligence and therefore prohibits computers, Mentats are trained to mimic the cognitive and analytical ability of machines. The prohibition on all thinking machines, including computers, robots and artificial intelligence, follows the historical movement known as the Butlerian Jihad, and Mentats were developed to replace the capacity for logical analysis that was lost.

Lore & Background

Mentats are more than calculators: exceptional memory and perception let them sift large volumes of data and produce concise analyses, and they can assess people and situations by interpreting small details. Training begins without the subject's knowledge, and at a certain age they are told and offered the choice to continue. The Tleilaxu can produce twisted Mentats, sociopaths free of ordinary moral constraints. Mentat abilities can be boosted with sapho juice, an addictive drug from roots found on Ecaz that leaves a permanent cranberry-coloured stain on the lips.

In Dune, House Atreides Mentat Thufir Hawat is considered one of the finest of his time and his protege Paul Atreides is trained as a Mentat, while the twisted Mentat Piter De Vries advises Baron Harkonnen. In Chapterhouse: Dune the Bene Gesserit learn that the Order of Mentats was founded by Gilbertus Albans; the Legends of Dune prequels explore the first Mentat.