I hadn’t made that connection, but I guess it’s possible.
If so, Brin ran with the idea pretty well.
Yah, memes float around the world of ideas. I think that is why “Dune” is less offensive than “The Golden Compass” appears to be . . . “The Golden Compass” is apparently designed to be a pedagogical sneak attack on Christianity while “Dune” is a more organic creation from the ideas that Herbert had incorporated into his worldview; it wasn’t intended to be a lecture or an attack.