Wapsi Square Forum

Mark N wrote:Well this does at last explain why Lilly and her friends were left lost in the desert to die. The stargates malfunctioned and dropped them just short of the terminus and the memories were either the damage of such a dump or the memories are in the storage system waiting to be released.

bmonk wrote:

jwhouk wrote:If an advanced civilization can create stargates, it can also create a Babel-fish-like universal translator.

It's gotta be exceedingly sophisticated--or it will babble in translation.

[drops a fishing fly towards the pun jar, angling for an escape]

KnightDelight wrote:I have to wonder what the plan was to revive those stored in the crystals (assuming they are there)? What's the use of storing everyone if they have no hope of being restored? They should have already been restored since the ELE never actually happened. OTOH, maybe they already have been restored and the crystals are empty.

illiad wrote:"any science, sufficiently advanced, will seem to a primitive culture, like demons and magic"

Atomic wrote:

zachariah wrote:

Boxilar wrote:I think.. I think all those "storage crystals" are people.

At least they are not green squares sold in super markets near you.

Don't be so sure:

scantrontb wrote:

illiad wrote:"any science, sufficiently advanced, will seem to a primitive culture, like demons and magic"

"ANY technology, no matter how primitive, will seem to be magic to those who don't understand it" Florence Ambrose.

txmystic wrote:

Julie wrote:

txmystic wrote:The Anasazi spoke modern English?

Oh for heavens sake! This one is easy to explain away! If you're dealing with a complex "computer" that has a "rosetta stone" of ancient languages stored away, is it really so hard to believe that said "computer" could translate audio files into the language of a couple of users? If you're worried that it wouldn't "know" modern English...didn't it just hear Kat translate the oldest entry?

I posted before coffee

As someone absorbed in an unfolding mystery about an ancient civilization, having something not normally associated with that time (English) is a bit of a shock. It's like in the film Saving Private Ryan, when, after two hours of gritty, bloody, heartbreaking action, they finally catch up with Private Ryan, and decide to join his team to defend the bridge and are awaiting the climactic German assault, at one point we see Private Ryan smile.

And Private Ryan has perfectly white hollywood teeth.

Pulled me right out of the story momentarily. So did this.

• Kath is translating (from subtext?) on-the-fly, utilizing her Rosetta welcome.
• Brandi is speaking some language that Atsali understands (as a spoken language, at least).
• The "sound" recording is actually a mental message, put in words by each witness seperately. (The welcome screen was visual only.)

Julie wrote: Who's to say that this isn't where the guy Kat read about (who found the kachina dolls) disappeared into this place?

Dave wrote:

Mark N wrote:Well this does at last explain why Lilly and her friends were left lost in the desert to die. The stargates malfunctioned and dropped them just short of the terminus and the memories were either the damage of such a dump or the memories are in the storage system waiting to be released.

I'm not sure the dates work out for that. Lily said that she died in the desert "around five thousand years ago", and the Mapimi explosion is given as 6,367 years ago. There could be quite a gap between the "sauve qui peut" rush to the stargates, and the point at which Lily found herself still-alive-and-dying in the desert.

Dave wrote:

starkruzr wrote:Also, this AI has been sitting around and listening to English as broadcast on RF for about 100 years. I think it should be just fine translating spoken language.

Assuming, that is, that a hundred years or so of exposure to multiple simultaneous broadcasts of American radio haven't left it firmly in the "frothing psychotic loony AI" category. There are some things that no sentient being should be exposed to... overdoses of talk-radio are high on the list

kingklash wrote:

Dave wrote:

starkruzr wrote:Also, this AI has been sitting around and listening to English as broadcast on RF for about 100 years. I think it should be just fine translating spoken language.

Assuming, that is, that a hundred years or so of exposure to multiple simultaneous broadcasts of American radio haven't left it firmly in the "frothing psychotic loony AI" category. There are some things that no sentient being should be exposed to... overdoses of talk-radio are high on the list

To paraphrase Harlan Ellison's story "Laugh Track", concerning Aunt Babe's afterlife trapped in the electronic ether of Broadcast Television: It's amazing what prolonged exposure to Gary Coleman can do to a person.

NOTDilbert wrote:Reminds me of...

SETI just translated the first message from another star system: send more Chuck Barry.

scantrontb wrote:

illiad wrote:"any science, sufficiently advanced, will seem to a primitive culture, like demons and magic"

"ANY technology, no matter how primitive, will seem to be magic to those who don't understand it" Florence Ambrose.

Sidhekin wrote:I'm assuming this was not spoken in English, nor translated by the program. I'd say either:

• Kath is translating (from subtext?) on-the-fly, utilizing her Rosetta welcome.
• Brandi is speaking some language that Atsali understands (as a spoken language, at least).
• The "sound" recording is actually a mental message, put in words by each witness seperately. (The welcome screen was visual only.)

... or it's a blunder ...