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Seems as if they might be duned to be addicted to spice, all good old barbarians on magic mushrooms style.

Quite dusty, especially regarding how to put the different parts of this behemoth series in the big picture of sci-fi because each part (of the 3 I´ve read so far and very probably won´t restart trying to read the 4th and 5th part) presents something different. Essentially, only this, the first one, is a real science fantasy epos, while the others are mostly circulating around the characters' special skills and family problems without much meta, plot, or different settings.

Just this first milestone is big in the epic worldbuilding department and some other things I´ll try to point my primate fingers at. As unrealistic as water scarcity in such a highly developed galactic civilization seems, it´s a perfect explanation for creating the blue eyed mind mutants and the misandrist female breeding gang, that don´t ever need to kick male butts, because they preemptively avoid that situation to become real.

Real life implications and innuendos.
I don´t know if Herbert had any kind of real civilizations, cultures, or traditions in mind when he constructed the tribes, today it would probably fall under any kind of politically correct bigoted do gooder codex, but there could lie a ton of creative writing gold in exploring this question of how to implement any past or present movement, society, tradition, faith into different sci-fi subgenres. Because how the traditions, monsters, and badass special moves of the inhabitants influence the planetary and intergalactic trade and travel balance is slowly presented to the reader, while the impact of the wonderful spice expands its glow towards total domination.

Don´t take drugs except they make you superhuman
As so often, a prescription free pharmaceutical wonder cure can solve all of your problems until corporate interests come and ruin everything by using anything in their armory to get control over the precious resource of psychohistoric psi precognition power. The idea of one substance changing the whole balance of power of the galaxy is big in many sci-fi series and especially terrifying for each arrogant, high tech civilization, because an animal creating impervious shields, an immortality tonic, a mind altering super drug, etc., could enable far weaker, steampunky tribes to destroy them. Classic barbarian hordes on magic mushrooms looting Rome style.

Bene Gesserit
Who says that centuries long, epigenetic, elitist breeding programs have to be completely evil all the time? Except for the poor lovers aroused by the wrong, not arranged partner, stupid Romeo and Juliet syndrome complexes, you have to see the bigger picture and control your hormones and feelings and sacrifice some biochemical illusions to create the ÜberPsi mentat mentalist mind penetrator. However, it works with less evil too. Together with the spice, this elite mental mind control academy with the aim to finally create the ultimate space JC messiah figure to defecate rainbows, freaking galactic peace, pink unicorns, and gold, is the backbone of the whole trilogy, because impacts of both and the excessive use of it as MacGuffins and Chekhovs plot devices lead to the question:

Is this still really sci-fi or not more a high fantasy thing with some sci-fi elements?
Well, highly subjectively, yes, Dune is mostly psi fantasy dressed in futuristic clothes with some faith, tech, technobabble (rare), and trade in between, which makes it one of the most outstanding and unusual sci-fi works, I mean fantasy camouflaged as sci-fi. Tricky, one is so indoctrinated to call this thing sci-fi that it took me a reread and absorbing many reviews to realize what´s really going on. I´m really not sure about this whole thing, I´ve read a ton of sci-fi and my alien mind parasite, in a kind of perverted symbiosis with the xenovirus making me look fresher I deliberately bought for this purpose like a tapeworm therapy to lose weight (you don´t want to know what this costs on the alien bioweapons black market, the second half of my immortal soul exactly), tells me that there still would a lot of story without the sci-fi elements, while close to nothing would be there after removing fantasy, faith, drugs, and mind penetrating abilities, so, yea. I mean, even the planet itself doesn´t really has sci-fi fractions or something, the space around it is kind of empty without many sci-fi parties, cyborgs, aliens, everything substantial seen in close to any big sci-fi series. This leads me to

An unpopular and possibly controversial opinion
It could be that Herbert is, and I am just talking about the sci-fi aspect, a bit overrated or, let´s precisely define it, overhyped as a sci-fi author because he is more of a fantasy writer. This couldn´t happen in a fantasy world, because parts of the legions of readers of the genre don´t want aliens and Clarketech mixed in their magic, not to speak of the suspension of disbelief problem that often comes with sudden future tech elements in fantasy, that´s just disgusting. The other way round, as with Dune, is much easier, just put some sci-fi around fantasy and everything just rolls perfectly.

Is terraforming destroying cultural heritage or making inhabitable worlds paradises?
The ethical implications of this question are another sci-fi old school vehicle, especially if the terrible acid rain, high gravity, parasite infested, or dirty desert land is the only region where the special, red plotline device can grow and thrive. One could go so far as to ask if there are real life examples on earth, conservation vs corporate environmentalism, greenwashing and stuff (spoiler warning: conservation lost, earth is dying), and how this should be dealt with in decades, centuries, or millennia when we (I hope you are immortal too thanks to alien symbiont virus cooperation like me, if you aren´t, poor you, may I infect you? Just 20.000 of whatever your fringe financial system uses as fiat money that will be worthless as soon as natural apocalypse, mutually assured destruction, or alien invasion make it obsolete, and you get the parcel. Shipping not included.) start manipulating weather, geophysics and- chemistry, and climate of other worlds to make it sexy, tropical, tourist friendly paradises at the low cost of exterminating all alien life, but this would be a bit far fetched.

Herberts´place in the sci-fi or sci-fa hall of fame.
That´s tricky, especially because he just couldn´t keep delivering after the third part. I´ve played around with the fourth and fifth part, but had to abandon it because it escalated to too much unmotivated, philosophical drivel without a real plotline and a place in the big picture of the series, Herbert just didn´t manage to hold it all together. What made the first three parts, that they are kind of eccentric, ingenious standalones without the classic space opera series uniting plotline and style, great, kind of destroyed the rest of the series. Because he had no more vision for the meta, high sci fa elements, Herbert lost control over his own creation and just manufactured hearthless shells to sell more books.

But that doesn´t mean that the first three parts aren´t milestones of the interdisciplinary genre, exploring it in new ways no one imagined before while reaching Lem-, Clarke-, and Asimov levels of subtle, intelligent dialogues, innuendos, connotations, and character driven development. It´s something unique, special, and definitively not for anyone because of its high entry barriers that may annoy some readers, but don´t let yourself be easily deterred by that, it´s totally worth it once you´re in and high as heck and addicted forever to the wonderful, delicious spice melange.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique: