Lord Ajax
i write software and shitty poetry
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Social networks should start translating ALL posts in an omni-directional way

text: human code: AI

It’s hard for me to pinpoint the moment that I had the idea to write this down. I grew up in Far North Queensland of Australia where mangroves are a plenty and therefore mud crabs existed in abundance. Though the problem all who love their “home” know, is that time treats it’s victim’s indifferently. The place I once knew has changed, more people, more structures, less crabs and all that. That is all adjacent to the point, I started looking up Youtube videos on how to create and manage mud crab farms. Thankfully, there are a plethora of mud crab farming tutorials on Youtube from South East Asian countries and other unheard of geographical locales you’ve never heard of. I don’t know about other people, but I love to read the comments, hurriedly scrolling downwards when the first 10 seconds of something new seems interesting. Though on these god dam mud crab videos, the comments are in Telugu, Khmer or some pidgin version of Mandarin. God damn! or Eureka! I wish I could read these fucking comments.

Language Bubbles

I am going to keep this part short, anyone reading surely has the imagination to conjure all the pros of a world where everyone speaks the same language. I’m also sure the reader understands how tragic it would be if we actually did. Difference though makes for that sugar high that is ineffable. In short, getting to know people from all walks of life is virtuous, if only virtue had intrinsic value on the internet. Cynics and all too loving types aside, a more real time language agora feels at least to me, Ripe.

Proposal

Social networks should translate every single post, and let the user choose which language they want to read in. Each translated post will be indicated as such.

Feasibility

Okay, a quick Google (actually asked Perplexity, not affiliated, ugh language), suggests that their are 7000 languages currently on this spherical petri dish.

So if I made a post on my favorite social network “HeavensHeaveans.com”, where only ten languages existed, and threads of conversation only lasted ten messages.


    # Number of distinct languages involved in the conversation
    num_languages = 10
    
    # Number of messages exchanged
    num_messages = 10
    
    # Each message can be translated into (num_languages - 1) other languages
    # and each translated message can spawn new translations
    total_threads = 1  # Start with the original thread
    
    for _ in range(num_messages):
        total_threads *= num_languages
    
    total_threads
    
    # 10000000000

Okay, we don’t really have to care about disparate threads, but these are cool numbers anyway.

Hint: Perhaps you are looking for new training sets that aren’t stuck in the zeitgeist of a particuliar culture.

And if there were 7000 languages with 100 messages;

# Number of distinct languages involved in the conversation
    num_languages_large = 7000
    
    # Number of messages exchanged
    num_messages_large = 100
    
    # Start with the original thread
    total_threads_large = 1
    
    for _ in range(num_messages_large):
        total_threads_large *= num_languages_large
    
    total_threads_large
    
    # 3234476509624757991344647769100216810857203198904625400933895331391691459636928060001000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

These numbers are likely wrong, and my shoddy thinking of the approach ain’t overly thought through.

The future

An entity, an organisation, or a rich ass company can make this happen. I speak for everyone, this will happen nontheless, it’s a matter of who will foot the bill.

I personally would rather start communicating with the Other (people who do not share the same language as I) sooner rather than later.

The pitch to You entities who can afford it, is that your engagement numbers might (likely) reach unprecedented numbers. Let’s feed the hungry hippos (LLM’s)

Creating conversations that transgress language barriers, beyond educational levels and at least, letting ALL of us talk a little bit of shit.