Re: <nettime> Sound dunes: Desert resonance / Sonic harddrive

[Bjorn Wijers <mailings@bdisfunctional.net>]

Thanks Geoff for the very interesting article you posted!

It reminds me of the universe pictured by late Frank Herbert in his Dune serie.

For those interested:

The dunes series are sci-fi books about a planet called Arrakis or as the natives
(Freemen) like to refer to it: Dune. There are 6 books written by Frank Herbert
and 3 "prequels" by his son Brian Herbert in collaboration with Kevin J. Anderson.
There is also a film made by David Lynch which is based on the first book. I'd
recommend to read the books vefore viewing the movie.

In these novels the sound of the dunes -made by people walking on them in a steady
rhythm- is attracting the sandworms (Shai-Hulud) and causes them to attack. In
response the natives (Freemen) learn to walk in a disorganized rhythm so that the
dunes don't resonate with their footsteps.

What I find interesting is that the Dune books were written in the 1960's so this
phenomenon about sand dunes creating noise is apperently known for quite some
time.

grtz,
BjornW



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