For #StarTrekDay:
It might surprise you to know that one of TNG's most famous episodes drives linguists up the wall, because the whole premise of "Darmok" is that this one species is uniquely reference-driven in their speech. In reality, *most* languages rely heavily on cultural context. It shouldn't have been a shock to anyone.
(But it's still a good episode. 😊)
Let's give it a try, though: Can you Darmok-ify recent news or culture in a way anyone who lived through it would understand?
The Orange his rage uncaged
The DA stands on strong walls
The election, a fire of uncertainty
@MLClark The humans have cycles in history just like they have cycles with their art.
Experience and interperation can only get so broad on their native hardware which is why I think themes have a tendency to repeat.
If the human race is able to survive their infancy, it will natively come with it the birth of art, along with the new problems and solutions that drive that expression.
Art is a reflection of being, and being is a reflection of art.
"If the human race is able to survive their infancy"
And if it cannot, there will come soft rains, and the world will go on: ever so many other wonderful critters living and dying in the curious ruins of a species they'd never known... & being none the lesser for human absence.
(But absolutely. This is why my SF novel in progress is drawing from Thucydides: his history of war politics 2,400 years ago could've been plucked from the pages today. Human nature hasn't much changed.)
@MLClark There is this amazing arc in TNG starting with Encounter at Farpoint. Q accuses humanity of being a cruel and savage race.
In All good things, they find themselves back in the court room. "The trial never ends"
Picard is only able to save the human race by allowing his horizons to expand.
That's when Q says, the final frontier is not around you, but within you.
It is a beautiful take on human nature and progress.
@NiveusLepus
Yes! Now that has all the makings of a future Anglo-Saxon epic about the ruin of kings (or their mediocre modern day equivalents). 👌 We get the cultural metaphors we deserve, I guess. 🙃