The oil analogy is important but it's not what the whole thing is about:

I wrote the Dune series because I had this idea that charismatic leaders ought to come with a warning label on their forehead: "May be dangerous to your health." One of the most dangerous presidents we had in this century was John Kennedy because people said "Yes Sir Mr. Charismatic Leader what do we do next?" and we wound up in Vietnam. And I think probably the most valuable president of this century was Richard Nixon. Because he taught us to distrust government and he did it by example. -frank Herbert

It's a warning about putting faith in charismatic leaders and personal dogmas, the oil/spice analogy is good and important but it's not the main point of the series.

All thinking machines were outlawed, not just AI, even calculators are forbidden, hence the need for mentats

Frank Herbert himself said that the point of the book was to warn against placing trust in charismatic leaders and dogma. The book is about ideologies and the struggle for meaning, it has a tiny bit about some resource and some middle eastern influence but that's far from being it's main point.

4 cultural anthropologists with specialized skills in decoding/translating languages as well as ethnology skills to record important cultural customs. And probably one painter or musician to show that we are creative, introspective, and peaceful. Honestly if they made it to our solar system they are not going to care about our interpretation of physics, math, chem, or biology, they would have that covered.