Science fiction is full of great lessons about how to approach people with a different worldview — even if they don’t actually come from a different world. Here’s what science fiction can teach us about learning to understand other cultures.

Never Trust a Universal Translator

Google Translate will never write you a coherent e-mail in Spanish, and it will certainly not help you communicate with other life forms.

In the film Mars Attacks!, Earthlings communicate with the invading Martians through a universal translator. The machine mistranslates the Martians’ arrival announcement as “We come in peace.” Obviously, after the Martians have assassinated world leaders, destroyed international architectural icons, and blown up white doves, everyone realizes that the translation was a load.

That said, this lesson is inverted by successful translator droids like Star Wars’ C-3Pro.

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