Why I like and use the Translation Convention

At some point in the early 20th century, sci-fi started taking place in the future more often than not.

From there to people thinking sci-fi is about the future was just one step.

So it happens that in the silver age of sci-fi, characters had names seemingly made from a random jumble of syllables. Note however that they still always had a first name and surname, in this order, and very pronounceable in English.

The Star Trek TNG episode Ensign Ro shouldn't have been so remarkable simply for bringing up this very real cultural issue, but there you have it. The now-famous text Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names wouldn't exist for another two decades.

It's the same with other things we used to get in sci-fi back then: bizarre fashions. Bizarre dances. What was the point? One of the things that made Star Wars remarkable was the use of real-world architecture from African countries that most people, myself included, would never have seen otherwise. Much better than everyone filming at that one university from Canada. You know which.

Funny how real cultures that exist right here on Earth often seem alien to us.

That's just it, you see: sci-fi isn't about distant worlds from the distant future, or by the same token for audiences from those distant future worlds.

( Read more... )