Liam 
People often ask me, how do I feel about working in the Bene Gesserit pain box factory, designing devices whose only purpose is to synthesise excruciating pain? Well I say I get to work on a product with best-in-field UX and an extraordinary recognition factor
Deborah Pickett@liamvhogan Pain boxes are truly the meme that never stops giving.
@futzle a meme is successful when it sparks the shock of recognition, a reaction we have to a commonly shared experience or value or belief, and look I don’t know what to tell you here
@liamvhogan I tell people to read Dune, not because it's a good story (it isn't) but because of the sheer number of memes that they'll now comprehend.
Same with Shakespeare, also the Bible.
JayOK now I want 3 examples that you DO consider a good story
@jaystephens @liamvhogan I'll let you know when I've found three.
@jaystephens @liamvhogan But seriously, if you rate a story by the mindshare it generates, in the original-definition-of-"meme" sense, Dune is incredibly successful. I just wish it could do it without the gender essentialism, the bad astronomy, the drug-fuelled mysticism, or the co-opting of Middle Eastern culture.
@futzle @jaystephens don’t forget the insane, lurid homophobia of the later novels
@liamvhogan @jaystephens Ah, I hadn't got that far, I think I ground to a halt somewhere early in #4 or maybe even late in #3.
@futzle @liamvhogan I made it partway through #4, but I do however think #1 is an excellent, excellent story, despite the fact that I share almost no moral/ethical framework nor Weltanschauung with Herbert.
@futzle @jaystephens Frank Herbert is the only author who could take the premise ‘Space Jews battle Lesbian Witches From Another Galaxy’, which you’ll agree sounds incredible, and make it pretty bad actually