Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

Either we abandon the long-honored Theory of Relativity, or we cease to believe
that we can engage in continued accurate prediction of the future. Indeed,
knowing the future raises a host of questions which cannot be answered under
conventional assumptions unless one first projects an Observer outside of Time
and, second, nullifies all movement. If you accept the Theory of Relativity, it
can be shown that Time and the Observer must stand still in relationship to each
or inaccuracies will intervene. This would seem to say that it is impossible to
engage in accurate prediction of the future. How, then, do we explain the
continued seeking after this visionary goal by respected scientists? How, then,
do we explain Muad'Dib?
-Lectures on Prescience by Harq al-Ada

Jessica, with Ghanima's help, has arranged a private meeting between the two of them alone at Sietch Tabr. Jessica recites the litany against fear to herself and has to hide the shock that Ghani knew she was doing it. She's afraid of her grandchildren. Leto has been excluded because Jessica feels he's hiding something terrible but neither yet exhibit signs of possession like Alia. Ghani can read Jessica so well that she drops her Bene Gesserit masks. They can read each other so well that they have a brief conversation without words where Jessica expresses her fear for her and Ghani finally feels Jessica's love for her. Jessica tells Ghani that she cannot use the Gom Jabbar test on the twins because they already know about it through their pre-born ancestral memories of Paul's experience. Jessica trusts her instincts that Ghani is human but has doubts about Leto. Ghani reasures her that they have not yet become abomination like Alia, primarily by avoiding the spice trance. Jessica asks about the preacher, the twins think it could be Paul but have not seen him yet, Leto wants to find out for sure. Ghani says Leto has a curious attraction to Alia and wants to study her, she cautions him against it but when she does he falls asleep and mutters "Jacurutu" in his sleep. She suspects Alia is trying to get Leto to seek out the place of legends. Jessica has already sent Gurney to Jacurutu. Jessica thinks to herself that the twins need to be seperated and Leto should be trained in the way the BG has ordered.

Revised

Children of Dune wrote:Either we abandon the long-honored Theory of Relativity, or we cease to believe
that we can engage in continued accurate prediction of the future. Indeed,
knowing the future raises a host of questions which cannot be answered under
conventional assumptions unless one first projects an Observer outside of Time
and, second, nullifies all movement. If you accept the Theory of Relativity, it
can be shown that Time and the Observer must stand still in relationship to each
or inaccuracies will intervene. This would seem to say that it is impossible to
engage in accurate prediction of the future. How, then, do we explain the
continued seeking after this visionary goal by respected scientists? How, then,
do we explain Muad'Dib?
-Lectures on Prescience by Harq al-Ada

Damn, I know general relativity is complicated, but in 20,000 years it's still only a theory! That's kind of crappy news for grand unified theory

I wonder that Harq al-Ada isn't making a false binary in his speculations here. What if the nature of physical space isn't yet understood fully, or what if prescience makes use of data that isn't yet part of scientific understanding? The speed of light may delimit information transfer in most cases, but perhaps not in all? There is, after all, entanglement. And the issue of time dilatation and other distortions that arise between different inertial frames can certainly be corrected for if the observer knows the general characteristics of his surroundings. I think the issue of prescience must revert back to a more basic question - what is spacetime? Is it 'made of' something, is there any thing behind it, the 'background' of the universe upon which spacetime resides? These are questions that relativity brings up, and if it's still a theory in 20,000 years then I expect these questions won't have been answered yet.

I guess this passage may be Harq al-Ada's way of saying that the universe isn't ready to give us all the answers just because we seek them; even nature still has surprises for us and won't be solved so easily. The false binary may be deliberate and may be his way of saying that current knowledge wasn't up to the task of comprehending prescience. I've been wondering what this epigraph has to do with the contents of the chapter, as up until now during my re-read of the series I've always found a direct connection between the epigraph and chapter. My guess, then, is that the epigraph is a sort of commentary on Jessica and Ghani's desire to inspect Leto carefully and to determine what's going on in his mind. If the nature of prescience is so obscure that their current science appeared to almost contradict it, then it follows that a person who is prescient would be just as immune to complete analysis as the prescience that works within his mind. Nature rebels against being fully understood, and so does a human being.

In this chapter Ghanima remembers Paul's Gom Jabbar test from Paul's point of view. Ghanima has OM from her male ancestors and in the next chapter So the pre-born are abominations, 'schizophrenic' from the start. Schizophrenia usually doesn't manifest during childhood, rather it's onset happens after puberty to young adults. Psychedelic drugs (spice?) speed the onset of schizophrenia for those prone to the disease. The twins are trying to delay their separation from each other, the development of their own individual memories (maturity), and their exposure to spice...

the rev wrote: ↑21 Apr 2023 02:28 In this chapter Ghanima remembers Paul's Gom Jabbar test from Paul's point of view. Ghanima has OM from her male ancestors and in the next chapter

so does Alia.

So the pre-born are abominations, 'schizophrenic' from the start. Schizophrenia usually doesn't manifest during childhood, rather it's onset happens after puberty to young adults.

Just as it happens to Alia.

Psychedelic drugs (spice?) speed the onset of schizophrenia for those prone to the disease. The twins are trying to delay their separation from each other, the development of their own individual memories (maturity), and their exposure to spice...

I think we shouldn't confuse abomination with schizophrenia or being schizophrenic; they are not the same.

the rev wrote: ↑21 Apr 2023 02:28 In this chapter Ghanima remembers Paul's Gom Jabbar test from Paul's point of view. Ghanima has OM from her male ancestors and in the next chapter

so does Alia.

So the pre-born are abominations, 'schizophrenic' from the start.

In addition to what Serkanner said, Ghanima and Leto II are not abominations from the start. In fact most of CoD is about how they go about avoiding becoming abominations.