OTHER SCIENCE FICTION SERIES

FARSCAPE TRANSLATOR MICROBES

POSTED BY: ANONYMOUSPOSTER
UPDATED: Monday, October 11, 2004 10:20
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VIEWED: 2836
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Saturday, October 9, 2004 4:11 PM

ANONYMOUSPOSTER


Injected at birth, translator microbes colonize at the base of the brain and and allow people to instantly understand anything said to them in any language. The translator microbes work by peforming several functions. While in the brain, one group of microbes intercepts the nerve signals of spoken language that is heard by the host, which they can distinguish by "reading" subsonic vibrations, and blocks the brain from registering them.

Another group of microbes feed on brain wave energy received not from their own host but from those being translated, created while composing a sentence. They absorb all unconscious mental frequencies from this brain wave energy and then excretes into the mind (part of the brain that relate to hearing) of its host a telephatic matrix formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with nerve signals picked up from the speech centers of the brain which has supplied them, leading to instant language translation. So what the host's ears hear and what their brain thinks it heard are two different things.

The speech patterns the host actually hear decode the brain wave matrix which has been fed into his or her mind by the microbes. Thus the translator microbes effectively allows someone to read the minds of people who are talking to them, and doesn't actually translate sounds per se.

A third group of microbes actually serve as brain wave modification devices. They alters brain waves in the host's visual recognition region of the brain so that they see the people being translated forming words of the user's native language with their mouths. Otherwise the host would see a mismatch between the word-shapes others make and the translated words coming from the microbes.

As good as the translator microbes are, though, they don't always catch everything. Sometimes words are untranslatable. Things like proper names, unique customs, and profanity.

The extension of one's natural life is another benefits of translator microbes. It seems translator microbes have long life spans of their own, and when their host’s body begins to age, the microbes go to work, repairing failing systems and fighting off any pesky debilitating diseases.

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Sunday, October 10, 2004 10:36 AM

CREVANREAVER


I just want to say this is some really interesting and informative stuff you've posted AnonymousPoster, you rock!



The translator microbes make a lot more sense now.

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Sunday, October 10, 2004 10:58 AM

MISGUIDED BY VOICES


Quote:

Originally posted by CrevanReaver:
I just want to say this is some really interesting and informative stuff you've posted AnonymousPoster, you rock!



The translator microbes make a lot more sense now.



My calendar is wrong - its completely missed off telling me that today is cut and paste day on FFF.

Do Hallmark have a card for it?

"I threw up on your bed"

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Sunday, October 10, 2004 11:31 AM

CREVANREAVER


Quote:

Originally posted by Misguided By Voices:
...today is cut and paste day on FFF.



Cut and paste or not, it's still interesting and informative!


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Monday, October 11, 2004 7:05 AM

UNCHARTEDOUTLAW


Yeah, that's probably the best description of translator microbes I've ever heard. And TMs are probably the best idea to explain why aliens speak perfect English I've ever heard from a science fiction show.

-Taylor

Uncharted Outlaw!

Haulin' goods from one end of creation to th' other. Keepin' my nose clean 'round the Alliance. Rockin' the "Riviera" (67-K62) hardcore!

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Monday, October 11, 2004 10:06 AM

DUG


Nah. Nothing can beat a Babel-fish in the ear. There's no better evidence of the complete lack of a divine being than this irrefutable proof that one exists.

Is it 9 am on thursday yet?

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Monday, October 11, 2004 10:20 AM

SOUPCATCHER


The funny thing is that parts of the original post appear to be similar to descriptions of the Babel fish.
Quote:

excerpted from http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A37766
The Babel fish is small, yellow, leechlike, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy received not from its own carrier but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with nerve signals picked up from the speech centers of the brain which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. The speech patterns you actually hear decode the brainwave matrix which has been fed into your mind by your Babel fish.



* editted to change links. This entry is posted in many places around the web. Most of the places cite it as written by Douglas Adams.

There are three kinds of people: fighters, lovers, and screamers.

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