Techno Babble: Difference between revisions

'''Wilbur:''' Ah! One of ''those''. }}

** Further lampshaded in ''One Of Our Thursdays Is Missing'', which reveals that any technological object in the Bookworld more advanced than a toaster is built by Techno Babble Industries.

* One of [[E. E. "Doc" Smith]]'s ''[[Lensman]]'' books, ''Galactic Patrol'', includes a very amusing technobabble explanation for the unlikely properties of one of his favorite inventions, Duodecpylatimate, AKA Duodec, the ultimate chemical explosive, though you do have to understand scientific notation to figure out the joke. Duodecpylatimate is described as "the quintessence of atomic destruction," whose power is second only than a nuclear explosion and has few of the drawbacks of atomics. No radiation danger, easy to handle, simple to use, powerful and easy to detonate. "Duodec" is a solid chemical explosive composed of 324 atoms of heptavalent nitrogen combined in 12 linked molecules of 27 atoms each.

* Parodied in Alan Dean Foster's ''[[Spellsinger]]'' series, where wizards incorporate technical terms from science and engineering into their arcane rituals. Lampshaded in that Jon-Tom immediately spots the connection, but turtle wizard Clothahump merely comments that the wizards in his (our) world must simply use comparable formulae for their spells.

** Baltar had previously used reams of technobabble on Tigh to demonstrate his fake Amazing Cylon Detector. Lucky that his hapless victim turned out to be a real Cylon. Ironically, the equally-technobabbly but functional detector later built by Baltar is currently considered fake.

** Ronald D. Moore has gone on record several times saying that he hates using technobabble. In fact, the avoidance level is so high that it takes four seasons to show the Galactica's engine room. Most of the basic tech remains a [[Black Box]].

** It really came back to bite them when the writers actually came up with a real scientific explanation for why stem cells from the human/Cylon hybrid Hera would cure cancer. Moore was worried that it would just ''sound'' like gibberish, and the final episode largely glosses over why it works (something about some blood cells being square while others are hexagonal, as far as we can tell). And the end result was many viewers upset that such a huge game-changing moment was given no real explanation.

* Very common in ''[[24]]'', where most of Chloe O'Brien's lines involve nothing but meaningless technobabble, including incredible abuse of the word "subnet".

== Web Comics ==

* Subverted in ''[[Kid Radd]]'', where the otherwise brilliant [[Mad Scientist]] has a huge blind spot for technobabble. "The sensors are picking up some '''stuff!'''"

* Parodied as well in [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/1503.html this] ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' strip; see also the notes at the bottom.

* ''[[8-Bit Theater]]'' features a technobabble dialogue in [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2003/09/25/episode-334-car-talk-and-retribution/ this strip].

* ''[[Intragalactic]]'' did a parody of technobabble in a footnote [http://intragalacticcomic.com/2008/11/21/021-magic-2d-space-map/ here]: "It wouldn't seem like you could chart space on a two-dimensional screen like this. Until you remember that at large distances space functions as a flat surface due to the exponentially increasing effects of gravity as we near the Planck time. Subspace anomaly nanoprobes wormhole."

** Also in ''Muertitos'' by the same author [http://muertitos.comicgenesis.com/d/20080306.html here]: "The trauma has rendered her catatonic, clinically vegetative, and medicine saline doctor viral!"

* Lampshaded in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' when Jean Poule tries to [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20071204.html explain the experiment which produced Molly.]

** And again when Molly [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100713.html tries to explain her newest invention.]

I started collecting MP3s in about 2001, and if I try to play any of the tracks I downloaded back then, even the stuff I grabbed at 320kbps, they just sound like crap. The bass is terrible, the midrange...well don't get me started. Some of those albums have degraded down to 32 or even 16kbps. FLAC rips from the same period still sound great, even if they weren't stored correctly, in a cool, dry place. Seriously, stick to FLAC, you may not be able to hear the difference now, but in a year or two, you'll be glad you did. }}

* Physicist Alan Sokal wrote an article in the journal ''Social Text'' that was essentially this, emphasis on "babble". He did so to prove that the humanities division would accept anything.

* A number of supplements talk about how wonderful it is that they contain DNA. As does every life form on Earth.