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Computers will translate in real time. Binary is the universal language of classic computers based on electromagnetic physics. Assuming quantum computing or s

Computers will translate in real time. Binary is the universal language of classic computers based on electromagnetic physics. Assuming quantum computing or some other unforeseen technology doesn’t replace other forms of computing then we will likely all be relying on binary in one way or another.

chillacy 8y ago
Isn’t that like saying pressure waves are the universal spoken language, so it doesn’t matter if English wins, it’s all pressure waves at the end of the day.
- opportune 8y ago
  Fundamental particles are the universal spoken language because all communication must be done through their interactions
  - PoachedSausage 8y ago
    Technically, and to quote the film Pi[0], "Mathematics is the language of nature". [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_(film)
    - oneweekwonder 8y ago
      I always thought of math more as a abstraction layer.
iforgotpassword 8y ago
I hope this will not be the case, because it would be yet another way in which we'd become dependent on computers and would be royally fucked if skynet would happen. Which probably wouldn't be too unrealistic if computers are smart enough to really understand and translate human languages with all their nuances and concepts like wordplays, humor and sarcasm.
NeedMoreTea 8y ago
Google translate does a just about acceptable job on Indo European languages. Diverge a little further and it often descends into comically poor. One of the most enjoyable things I used to find about travel was experiencing and dipping into other cultures and trying out a little local language picked up from phrase books etc. These days people seem to prefer practising their English on me as I'm a native English speaker. I miss those global differences more and more as everyone adopts English and global brands.
- dorchadas 8y ago
  > Google translate does a just about acceptable job on Indo European languages. Diverge a little further and it often descends into comically poor. Not even all Indo-European ones. It's absolutely awful at trying to translate to and from Irish, for instance.
  - xxpor 8y ago
    Probably because it doesn't have full official status at the EU. Google has a ton of data for EU languages because documents have to be translated between them all.
    - dorchadas 8y ago
      It's an official language, but not a full _working_ language, something which seems to be slated to change within the next few years. In my personal opinion, however, knowing the quality of "Irish" [1] that the translators will have, is that it still won't really help translation all that much if you wish to actually communicate with native speakers. [1] There's a huge rift forming in Irish between the "Gaelscoilis" or "Urban Irish" that is learnt and passed on by non-native speakers and that which is passed on in the traditional areas. Unfortunately, there's also a lack of communication between the two areas, partly because they struggle to understand each other; natives from the traditional area often have to translate the non-traditional speakers' Irish to English in order to understand the meaning, for instance. There's also the fact that the people creating the legal terms for the language often don't really have a firm grasp on the history or nuances of various words or the language, and are often themselves not native speakers. This led to a funny incident where they translated "dental hygienist" as "toothed hygienist" in the official dictionary of new terms. It's also likely to lead to a "Neo-Irish" that is completely divorced from the language as used in the Gaeltachtaí (traditional speaking areas); one linguist has even gone so far as to say it'll be "Irish in English drag", which looks truer and truer when you look at the errors they make and pass on.
umanwizard 8y ago
“Binary” isn’t a language. It’s not clear at all what you mean.

chillacy 8y ago

Isn’t that like saying pressure waves are the universal spoken language, so it doesn’t matter if English wins, it’s all pressure waves at the end of the day.

opportune 8y ago
Fundamental particles are the universal spoken language because all communication must be done through their interactions
- PoachedSausage 8y ago
  Technically, and to quote the film Pi[0], "Mathematics is the language of nature". [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_(film)
  - oneweekwonder 8y ago
    I always thought of math more as a abstraction layer.

iforgotpassword 8y ago

I hope this will not be the case, because it would be yet another way in which we'd become dependent on computers and would be royally fucked if skynet would happen. Which probably wouldn't be too unrealistic if computers are smart enough to really understand and translate human languages with all their nuances and concepts like wordplays, humor and sarcasm.

NeedMoreTea 8y ago

Google translate does a just about acceptable job on Indo European languages. Diverge a little further and it often descends into comically poor. One of the most enjoyable things I used to find about travel was experiencing and dipping into other cultures and trying out a little local language picked up from phrase books etc. These days people seem to prefer practising their English on me as I'm a native English speaker. I miss those global differences more and more as everyone adopts English and global brands.

dorchadas 8y ago
> Google translate does a just about acceptable job on Indo European languages. Diverge a little further and it often descends into comically poor. Not even all Indo-European ones. It's absolutely awful at trying to translate to and from Irish, for instance.
- xxpor 8y ago
  Probably because it doesn't have full official status at the EU. Google has a ton of data for EU languages because documents have to be translated between them all.
  - dorchadas 8y ago
    It's an official language, but not a full _working_ language, something which seems to be slated to change within the next few years. In my personal opinion, however, knowing the quality of "Irish" [1] that the translators will have, is that it still won't really help translation all that much if you wish to actually communicate with native speakers. [1] There's a huge rift forming in Irish between the "Gaelscoilis" or "Urban Irish" that is learnt and passed on by non-native speakers and that which is passed on in the traditional areas. Unfortunately, there's also a lack of communication between the two areas, partly because they struggle to understand each other; natives from the traditional area often have to translate the non-traditional speakers' Irish to English in order to understand the meaning, for instance. There's also the fact that the people creating the legal terms for the language often don't really have a firm grasp on the history or nuances of various words or the language, and are often themselves not native speakers. This led to a funny incident where they translated "dental hygienist" as "toothed hygienist" in the official dictionary of new terms. It's also likely to lead to a "Neo-Irish" that is completely divorced from the language as used in the Gaeltachtaí (traditional speaking areas); one linguist has even gone so far as to say it'll be "Irish in English drag", which looks truer and truer when you look at the errors they make and pass on.

umanwizard 8y ago

“Binary” isn’t a language. It’s not clear at all what you mean.