I just finished re-reading book 1 to the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy. And I've discovered for myself, at least 2 fictional creations in Book 1, that have now translated into something real and tangible on Earth.
Babel Fish
Babel Fish is a wonderful service offered by Alta Vista (at http://babelfish.altavista.com/). It translates a chunk of text for you from one language into another. While syntax and grammar are sometimes iffy, it's easy to get the gist of the meaning by unscrambling some of the words.
Babel Fish is not just a translation service that is offered via the Internet. It originated from Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In the book, Babel Fish, is a type of fish that acts as a biological universal translator. You insert it into your ear canal, and the babel fish acts as a parasite that feeds off your brainwaves, and excretes mental energy that translates foreign words into that of your own language. The fish finds nourishment in our brainwaves, and we benefit it from it's excrement. A very interesting, funny, and gross fictional species of fish...
Googleplex
Unless you've been living like a hobbit in a hole in the ground, you're familiar with Google, as the world's largest search engine. Not only is it the world's largest search engine, it also aspires to create the world's largest online library.
Well, in Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Googleplex is the name of a very powerful computer in the galaxy (full name is Googleplex Star Thinker in the Seventh Galaxy of Light and Ingenuity). This fictional computer has the ability to "calculate the trajectory of every single dust particle throughout a five-week Dangrabad Beta sand blizzard". Now that's a powerful computer!
My point is, that imagination can truly help build some wonderful things. All you need is one great idea, and someone out there can help translate that idea into something more real.
No comments:
Post a Comment