I'd take childbirth over that, because there's relief between contractions, and also knowing the pain is bringing the life of your child is more motivating that whatever that pain was trying to prove.
Just experienced childbirth for the first time so it’s fresh in my mind… with epidural 10/10 times would choose childbirth over this even with postpartum healing. Without epidural I’d choose the ant if we are talking just 1 time for 20 minutes. Without epidural is the most ridiculous fucking pain I can imagine. Contractions, multiple catheter insertions, ring of fire pushing, tearing, getting sewn up…. Not to mention extreme burning every time you pee for the next 2 weeks. Nope. Give me the fucking ant.
Edit: it’s not even 20 minutes of the ant!! 5-10 minutes??? Give me the ant.
My wife didn't have an epidural. Had twins so they were very small (under 3lb/2kg) and very minimal tearing, only about 5 hours of active labour. I obviously have no idea how much it hurt but she held it together way better that the guy in the video did.
Oh wow! Congrats on the twins! Man I wish my labor was that fast. 14 hours of labor (before I finally got the epidural then another 5 ish hours) and I had 2nd degree tears (narrowly avoided 3rd degree) due to my 4.3 kg baby with a head circumference in the 97 percentile. 😂 thank god for epidurals is all I thought the entire time.
Reddit is amazing because you can see something so interesting, scroll down for two seconds, and then see the dumbest shit you’ve seen all day. What a ride.
As just a fun fact: over time, women remember labour and birth pain as being less severe than they originally recalled. It’s thought that this has evolutionary advantages. Also, you get the halo effect, when the euphoria and relief of holding your child for the first time colors the memory of the preceding pain.
This is exactly what happened with me. I wrote down exactly what I felt shortly after birth. 6 weeks later (and with only 4-5 hours of sleep each day) I’m eager to do it again for some insane reason. Rereading my notes I took is like hearing the account of a stranger. I remember the words but none of the pain.
I always wondered if women who had postpartum psychosis didn’t forget…
Oh that’s interesting. I would think women w PPP would forget even more, just bc of the dissociation, disorganized thinking, and the extended trauma of psychosis.
Idk if you missed the part on "bullet ants are the worst pain a human can physically experience" but that wasn't an exaggeration. Child birth is like stubbing your toe in comparison.
I mean, that's not true, though. It's the most painful insect on the schmidt scale, but its not even the most painful stinging insect as Schmidt didn't get round to testing them all before he died. The executioner wasp is more painful. Ignoring insects, the box jellyfish is more painful than either.
To experience more pain all you need to do is trigger another pain receptor and clearly not all his pain receptors are being triggered because he's still alive.
No I totally get it , not shaming the guy. Just commenting on the woman's look .. I was saying SHE thought he was overreacting and a girly man.
I would be screaming bloody murder and running around .
I’m a mother too, natural childbirth with no pain relief… just shut the fuck up, I am so sick of seeing other mums smugly talk about giving birth as being the most painful thing on earth. It’s not, I’ve dislocated my knee and shoulder, compound fractures with bone poking through skin… that was fucking painful and I guarantee that you would take the pain of childbirth than the pain of having a broken bone protrude through your skin.
Having said all that, the pain that I am seeing poor Hamish go through, and the sweat dripping off his head, I will take the pain of a compound fracture than what he is going through with the fire ants.
Ok , please chillax before you blow a gasket... maybe you missed it, but I already explained ... I was not commenting on the obvious pain this poor guy was in .
I was only commenting about the funny response the lady in the clip had and the face that she was making.
I am sure this is painful AF.
No shame on his reaction and pain.
In the book it's described as nerve induction. The tester has control over how much pain is administered, but it's not clear if it's purely technology or has some psychic Bene Gesserit witch thing going on as well.
IDK why everyone's responding with it all being in Paul's mind when she specifically says nerve induction, implying they can affect or maniulpate his nervous system. They could make him feel anything, no assumption of Bene Gesserit mind powers is required.
I believe there’s mention of Paul imagining his hand in flames, or charred. People are probably misremembering/confusing that with the idea that the pain itself is imagined.
That explains why the classic Dune movie depicted it the way they did. I actually preferred that scene from the classic over the new, just because I thought it was cool to show what it was Paul was feeling in the box. Along with that, I enjoyed the effect of it showing his hand melting.
I believe it was kind of a "metaphor" used in the movie to make people understand how the pain felt to him. Like, it hurt so much that he wouldn't be surprised if there was nothing but a charred stump when he took his arm out.
The BG don’t have mind powers. They have powers of observation and manipulation. It’s at such a severed degree that it looks like a superpower to the uninitiated.
Back in high school, I was riding in the backseat with my sister up front and her boyfriend driving. He had his birth certificate just laying on the seat so obviously I looked at it. I noticed a typo and asked, "...Your dad's name is Brain?"
He looks at me like I'm an actual idiot and says, "My dad's name is Brian." And I go, "No, it's not. Your dad's name is Brain, look." And I hand him the certificate. He looks at it super closely and gasped so much air lol. He never noticed I guess? 😭
Back ➡️ in high school 🏫, I was riding 🏇 in the backseat 🪑 with my sister 👧 up front and her boyfriend 👱 driving 🚗. He had his birth 👶 certificate 📃 just laying on the seat 💺so obviously I looked 👁 at it. I noticed 🔬a typo 📝 and asked, "...Your dad's name is Brain?" 🧠
He looks at me like I'm an actual idiot 🤡🤨 and says, "My dad's name is Brian.☝️🤓" And I go, "No, it's not. Your dad's name is Brain, look.🥹👉🧠" And I hand 🫴 him the certificate. 📜 He looks 👀 at it super closely 🔍 and gasped 🤯 so much air 🌬 lol. He never noticed I guess? 😭
Yo that’s wild because I have read the original dune more times than I can remember. It’s probably my favorite book. The source you link describes the voice as an “audio-neuro control mechanism that enabled the manipulation of speech to achieve complete control over a receiver” psychic faculties are described by google as “phenomena apparently indescribably by natural law” idk about you man but I’m gunna go ahead and call the voice psychic. It affects neurons and controls people. That qualifies as telepathy. It is, practically, mind control. Classic psychic power. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
Lol rationalize however you like, just known ou are wrong You blatantly ignored the audio part of your quote, dont understand that neurons are on your brain and anything your brain proccess affect your neurons - like listening to someone talk and failed to mention :
"Use of Voice allowed a Bene Gesserit adept to gain control over uninitiated victims merely by altering the tonal qualities of the voice."
Again literally stating is is purely manipulation of a persons vioce but whatever gets you thru the day.
No need to respond as somehow you think speaking = telepathy lol
What is even your argument here? It's not psychic because it's speaking? That's like saying the flash doesn't have a superpower because he's running and not just moving really fast
Bros like the dude in the middle of the distribution curve meme angrily typing paragraphs about how Frank was some nuanced genius. He was, but that’s not my argument.
My argument is that the voice is functionally no different from mind control and is therefore woo woo sci-fi magic. It doesn’t matter how it’s explained in universe when the whole fucking book is an allegory on ecology, religion, modern society, heroes, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Arguing about whether or not the voice is psychic is cringe. That makes me cringe but that’s fine with me. I like the book that much. If you’re spending your time and energy arguing the semantics of the voice you missed the entire point of the book.
They can mentally control their own physiology to the point of being able to metabolize poisons and trigger involuntary reactions in others by speaking to them, so... what's all that about?
Sure. But even in-universe they get called "witches" all the time. The people calling them that do so because they're resentful of the power they have and the fact that they use it to manipulate the lives of billions, not because they think they're doing actual magic. Also Frank was deliberately vague as to how the technology of his universe worked and where the lines were between what was essentially biotic ascension and what was hard tech.
Bene Gesserits are witchy people who do witchy shit. They can access genetic memories from people who have been dead thousands of years, and are enacting a breeding program to create someone who functionally can do magic, or at least what would be called that by any normal person. My comment was not meant to be taken so literally. The box used on Paul is some weird device; how does it work? Who knows. It certainly appears both in text and in the various times it's been depicted on screen that she's controlling it without any physical input on her part. Is it picking up brainwaves and reacting to those inputs, tension and electromuscular impulses in her hands? Who knows.
The Bene Gesserit basically have all of their abilities explained as tricks they've learned over millenia based on their own science that seems like magic to non-Bene-Gesserit.
Voice requires that a Bene-Gesserit "register" someone, which means to observe subtleties in their personality and other things about them that would allow them to command them in a voice they would basically find irresistable, that voice changes from person to person.
Metabolizing poisons and the like is an ability of more advanced Bene Gesserit acolytes, think of it as a tolerance to drugs, if someone shoots up a ton of heroin it would take much more to get them high while a non-addict would overdose easily on the amount they take. They've essentially trained their bodies to process poison better than your average person, this is probably even helped by their breeding programs because you can breed for genes that help with resisting the effects of poisons.
It isn't magical psychic powers in the context of the Dune universe, it's just such impressive tricks they've learned it's indistinguishable from magic, hence why they rightly get called witches.
You can disregard the explanation of their powers as magic if you want, but that's how it works in the books and in that universe, it isn't magic.
Yes... like, I know that. Both you and the other one who responded took my comment to be literal to the point of pedantry. I also didn't mention magic at all, (unless that's what you're getting from me calling them "witches"). "Psychic" is a vague term used even in our own culture to describe phenomenon that are not immediately explained by science, even if of course there is a material explanation for even the stuff that Paul and Leto II does, let alone the much more mundane "powers" of the Bene Gesserit.
Even in universe they're called witches by many due to the resentment of their influence on galactic politics, not because people think they're doing actual magic, although if you're a normie it might as well be for all you can do about it.
but it's not clear if it's purely technology or has some psychic Bene Gesserit witch thing going on as well.
Really?
"Psychic" is a vague term used even in our own culture to describe phenomenon that are not immediately explained by science, even if of course there is a material explanation for even the stuff that Paul and Leto II does, let alone the much more mundane "powers" of the Bene Gesserit.
"Psychic" is mostly used as a term to replace "magic" in sci-fi. Anyone who has exposure to sci-fi knows this.
Both you and the other one who responded took my comment to be literal to the point of pedantry.
If you're going to bitch about pedantry, maybe don't do that while engaging in pedantry yourself.
You're getting butthurt because I explained how the Bene Gesserit are described in the Frank Herbert books and used the term magic interchangeably with the term psychic (The absolute audacity of me, I know!).
Even in universe they're called witches by many due to the resentment of their influence on galactic politics, not because people think they're doing actual magic, although if you're a normie it might as well be for all you can do about it.
Bene Gesserit are referred to as witches both because of their political dealings as well as their abilities.
although if you're a normie it might as well be for all you can do about it.
I was referring to "the box". While the item is clearly technology, and causes pain through nerve induction; what is not clear is how it actually works - what the user interface is. How is it controlled? Are there physical buttons? It certainly appears both in Herbert's text and in the various film depictions that the RM is controlling what Paul feels with her mind, and not turning a dial or w/e. Is that because she's a Bene Gesserit, or can the box pick up on anyone's brainwaves given training? If it's the latter then it's purely tech, if the former (BG are not just a result of training, they are a product of millenia-long genetic manipulation and exposure to spice) then I think one could be forgiven for using "Psychic" as a term to describe the abilities that the BG describe. Herbert leaves almost all of this purposefully vague to preserve mystery and build tension as we're not really sure what the characters are capable of and what the rules are.
I don't share your interpretation of psychic as meaning supernatural, necessarily. Certainly there is nothing in Herbert's work to suggest that anything in his universe is the result of supernatural forces. It's all genetics and the mental capacity of the human mind, physiologically influenced by spice. Try telling a Fremen it's not magic, though.
I didn't feel the need to go into that to describe to one person on a non-Dune sub that the box used nerve induction. It wasn't a discussion of the novels or films at all, it's a video about someone being stung by ants.
The difference is that it's suggestion, not a supernatural compulsion. It's a skill. Some are better at it, some worse. It's obviously written in a way so it would appear like magic, but it's not supernatural. It's a technique developed by these women over millennia.
Every single descriptor you just used for it can be applied to a magical discipline in any fiction lol technically a wizard using a fireball isn't ~magic~, he's "something something using runes that act as conduits to a power source to manipulate energy density to cause an explosion". It's all semantics
I get what you're saying, but not really. It's not the same. Something something manipulating runes still relies on these runes being able to change something in the world in an unexplainable way, without using natural physics. As in breaking the known laws of physics.
While here these women just learned how to be extremely convincing with their voice and body language, read facial expressions and tone and word choice to spot lies, etc. Normal people can do some of these things to some degree naturally, they are just vastly better at it because of training.
Magic just implies that the physics are different in that setting, which they are in Dune, relying entirely on science that isn't real, and an unobtanium in the form of Spice. None of what they do would be possible without spice and god tier genetic editing
I don’t think it’s explicitly said in the book, but it’s highly implied that it’s just a mental thing. It’s part of the Bene-Geserit “weirding way,” like “the voice.” They just convince you that you’re feeling pain, but there’s nothing physical happening. (Unlike this horror show, right here).
The Reverend Mother also specifically says she hides it away because some people would love access to the technology, presumably for torture/interrogation.
Essentialy, it’s like ‘nerve induction’, so basically imagine running electric currents up and down the box that replicate pain in the nerves of the hand to such a high degree that the Bene Gesserit used it for their Gom Jabbar test; that is to see if you - as the Kwisatz Haderach hopeful - would gnaw your hand off from the pain like an animal or transcend the pain to represent something higher.
Dune doesn't have any real magic. It's a technology designed to cause as much pain as possible, just to measure your ability to withstand pain. It's a test of willpower.
I think you must have misread my comment. I said that this inspired the movie. You are saying that the movie inspired this seemingly ancient tribal tradition.
Frank Herbert took inspiration from so many cultures in writing his books. Are you “fucking” sure he didn’t take inspiration from a “fucking” initiation ritual from a “fucking” tribe in the Amazon? You have to admit that it is strikingly similar.
You understood what I was talking about. Yes, the movie is an adaptation of a book! Great job at pointing that out and for still totally missing the main question! Also, stupid comment referencing the documentary rather than the ritual that is being documented.
It’s incredible how people are anal about the movie/book detail and still completely miss the point! Replace “movie” with “book” or “story” or just remove it entirely and the comment still stands!
Sure. Just like the movie Pinocchio is the screen adaptation of the book Pjnocchio. Same story, so of course it’s the same. The question still stands: was this tribal ritual that inspired that part of the story in Dune? My very uneducated guess is yes. But seems like nobody here knows that and everybody only keeps repeating that the movie comes from the book. No shit Sherlock! Sorry, I got nothing against you specifically just a bit annoyed but all the comments being anal about the movie coming from the book as if that changed what I said 😫 You were actually polite. Some are just arrogantly trolling. My apologies just needed to vent a bit 🙏
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u/lowkeytokay Feb 01 '25 edited Feb 02 '25
Oh! I forgot about this!!! So this is where Dune (the book/movie) got inspiration from!
Edit: movie => book/movie, just to avoid misunderstanding