A universal translator was a form of augmented reality technology that could translate languages into the language a person was speaking. Overtime, this would help unite humanity.
(Note: The background section of this page uses most of the words from the augmented reality page of Terra Futura to save time.)
Background[]
Ubiquitous computing was a concept in which the computer chip was dispersed into the environment. The most well known example was the cell phone. Starting with 3G phones, cell phones became smartphones. Some 5G phones used virtual retinal displays which became standard in 6G phones. With implantable brain-computer interfaces, the smartphone became part of a person's body. This increased human intelligence. No need for a screen or a projector. A holographic computer screen would appear in front of them if they wanted to do something. If he or she wanted to play a video game or such, a person could become fully immersed in virtual reality. Or he or she could use virtual reality to create augmented reality if the person was working on a construction project or something else.
With implantable brain-computer interfaces, augmented reality became a reality and changed the world. In tourism ancient ruins could be seen as they were thousands of years ago. If you were driving a driverless car, the gauges would not be in the dashboard, but in the brain-computer interface. Music stands and screen plays became obsolete because the lines or notes would appear in a person's field of vision. A student who missed a lecture could download the missed lecture into the brain-computer interface and see it for himself. A soldier could get the latest data on a battlefield. These were just some applications of augmented reality. Another was X-Ray Vision. Of course, this required a virtual retinal display contact lens to avoid hurting the eyes, but back-scatter X-Rays still did the job. This was useful in surgery. Another application involved combining augmented reality and full immersion virtual reality in a holodeck. Finally, one of the most well known applications of augmented reality was the universal translator which used audio translation to translate any language into the language the person was speaking.
Description[]
Tech Level: 11
An idea fresh out of Star Trek, the universal translator was once considered to be unrealistic. But computers were advancing so much that by the time implantable brain-computer interfaces became the norm, it was possible for humans who spoke two different languages to carry on a conversation while each person heard the other person speak in the language they that each person spoke. This technology used implantable brain-computer interfaces to trick a person's ears into hearing only his or her own language. As humans became intimately merged with machines, software was no longer a problem. A person could create universal translator software in their brains with the help of their nanobots. This would help unite humanity forever or as long as there wasn't any trouble.