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It's a peaceful life (europe.pub)
submitted 3 days ago by [M] to c/tenforward@lemmy.world
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TNG s5e2 " Darmok"

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[–] 3 points 3 days ago* (7 children)

The Tamarian language is like C++ whilst normal language is binary, or assembly. Sure, all C++ is based on assembly and assembly is based on binary, but once you've invented a higher-level language, you're not gonna have much patience for lower-level languages anymore; that's for the compiler to worry about. You might still use binary - or, more realistically, hexadecimal - for limited purposes like RGB codes, but outside of that it's all higher-level, baby.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

    A C++ user could never make novel assembly that C++ couldn't already target without also being able to deal in assembly.

    So your concept may explain all the speaking in only old metaphors, but in the end they synthesize a new one: Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel. So they clearly could still use the underlying languag.

    Also, Dathon listened to Picard tell a story, and Dathon seemed engaged with language as a narrative. This means Dathon was able to grasp the story as constructed from words he ostensibly wouldn't have understood?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 days ago (1 child)

    Well, it's important to remember that Picard wasn't the only one there trying to figure the other guy out. Dathon was trying, too. So it's like a C++ user spending enough time observing an assembly coder that he was able to invent ONE novel C++ command.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 days ago (3 children)

    We can learn C++ without without knowing binary because we have C++ documentation written in human languages. Likewise, the Tamarians need a non-metaphorical language to explain their metaphors.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 days ago* (2 children)

    They have it. "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" contains the words "and" and "at". Other phrases include words like "his", "eyes", "opened", "when", "the", "walls", "fell", "on", "ocean", etc. That's the binary. What's interesting is that they seem incapable of understanding binary on its own anymore, and only know C++.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 days ago

    It's easy to forget, there is a universal translator in between that is at the root of the misunderstanding. This isn't really a higher level language coming up against a lower one. It's a compiler coming across syntax it wasn't designed for.

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