Reflecting on Frank Herbert's DUNE and the ... Bored and crushed up against hundreds of other humans on the Yamanote line this AM, and my mind started to wander... At the beginning of DUNE, the Bene Gesserit test Paul Atreides by making him put his hand inside a box. The box contains pain. Then the put a needle with a Gom Jabbar (poison) to his neck: They're testing if he's "human or animal", basically an animal would pull its hand away from the pain.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTjUzT-xto4 If there was a contemporary reshoot of DUNE, they'd make Fat Average Westerner Paul eat a normal 800-1000 calorie meal, then put his hand into a box of Krispy Kreme; and wait to see if he pulls out a donut, Gom Jabbar to neck. If he passes, then they let him go. When he goes back to his computer or pulls out his cell phone, a second Bene Gessrit witch appears with a Gom Jabbar to his throat, to see if he can resist posting on tumblr about being triggered or starved by what just happened. Basically, in the 60s when DUNE was written, it was the biggest thing conceivable to stave off animal urges (pleasure/pain), specifically by placing yourself willfully into a painful situation and remaining there. Nowadays, more than pain, the temporary suspension of pleasure is a momentous feat that can barely be comprehended. Dumb, but when I'm sandwiched on a 9:30 AM train overflowing with other humans (who thankfully are slim/normal and who don't smell like a dumpster, but all in the same crappy situ), my mind wanders into weird zones...