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.