paks (paksy_waxy)

In movies, communication with alien species is usually achieved by means of some amazing technology. Translations are fluid, immediate, and accurate. This idea rests on the false assumption that all languages have a simple conceptual foundation. But we know this is not the case, even in human societies. Languages are not based in universalities: they reflect national traditions, ethnocentric worldviews, the specific histories of their societies. Imagine, then, how many obstacles there will be to interspecies communication, when even the physical metaphors of life, and the species' sensory apparatus, differ. From the most complex to the simplest of our communicative acts, there will be endless opportunities for misinterpretation.