Latest blog post: Redraw of chapter 1 is happening (2024-05-11)
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Comic transcript
Iskra: So what’s your progress?
Major: Initially we could converse only through pictograms...
Major: ...But now we managed to switch to simple words.
Major: She’s a very fast learner.
Iskra: Your approach is... unorthodox.
Iskra: However, from now on, I think it's better to leave the communication to people who actually know what they're doing.
Major: With vast experience of dealing with aliens, I assume?
MIB: Our experts have spent years perfecting the methodology and theory of initiating extraterrestrial contact.
MIB: Following the procedure guarantees a successful contact.
Major: Of course, of course.
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Comments (10)
On one hand, even purely hypothetical preparation can be a lot better than nothing. On the other hand, never trust the competence of anyone who claims that their approach to a problem nobody has ever solved before is guaranteed to work.
"So clearly I've just been doing everything wrong and we're not actually communicating at all."
To be fair, sending the major a linguist to help would probably be useful to him. Help, not take over.
Yeah. like in "The Arrival" when the Military Mind can't understand why that's important until it's explained how communication happens.
"Initating" extraterrestrial contact... Dude... Its been initiated.
The Major's opinion is starting to show through there. He's had enough "experts" coming through and telling him how to properly do things while his simple and logical approaches have been getting things far further.
I really love Darth's take on the military response and decisions here.
God remember that biologist who wanted to fucking vivisect her, and the Major's response was "That's immoral".
Let's see how (im)moral that failsafe "procedure" turns out to be ...
just food for thought on experts. The first airplane was built by two bicycle mechanics, The first electrical system was built by a man with a 6th grade education , and the theory of relativity was written by a patent clerk. But the Titanic , the Hindenburg and the space shuttle Challenger were built by the top engineers of the day.
Well, that's simple to explain: The Titanic, Hindenburg, and Challenger were not the first of their kind and those "top engineers" were what the amateurs originally inventing the concepts had turned into in the meantime.
BTW, Einstein was actually searching for a math and physics teaching post (after obtaining a suitable degree in 1900) when he was offered the job at the patent office, and the Challenger wasn't doomed by its designers but by the decision to proceed with its launch in spite of record-low temperatures.
"the Challenger wasn't doomed by its designers"
Yeah, it pretty much was. It was a crash design, done as quickly as possible for several reasons - it had several known and significant weaknesses, including the issue that destroyed Challenger.
But the larger point is that "experts" are far too often well-credentialled... and nothing more. We have had soo many painful examples of that to bother listing in the last few years.
Yanno, eventually Gharr will end up in this facility one way or another. He'll probably figure out that they're working from a script, and ask to see it. Inb4 it makes him laugh out loud and/or facepalm.
Meanwhile, have fun trying out this procedure on Nea, who doesn't have much patience for eggheads even when they're her own comrades.
"And who is underwriting this guarantee of yours? What do I get if your procedure isn't successful?"
"The blame, obviously"
Ah yes, the theory guarantees success, in theory. After all, according to the theory, the theory is correct.
But even if these guys were more correct than Lysenko in their theory-making, their whole deal is about "initiating contact" and contact has already been initiated before they came here, so... go back to the drawing board and start theorizing about how to handle negotiations with an alien prisoner after you've shot down her ship. See if it deviates from the parameters you had set at first in your thought experiments.
But it's just to get the alien's attention, so they can get to the important part of the interrogation: Where is your home planet? Where is the rest of your force? What are your intentions here? They're working for the Government from a much higher level. Responsible for the safety of innocent people. They have their orders, and MUST find the answers.
Geesh-- watch some movies, already!
This babylon 5 quote applies, yes?
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
Londo had so many good quotes.
Honestly, as good as the rest of the show was, the relationship between Londo and G'Kar was probably my favorite part.
-Setting themselves up for this comedy; when they discover how much they don't know.