[inhumanly neat print]

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

Disregarding other events last night, does this message mean anything to anyone? Beyond the obvious, of course. It was played before the... other effects manifested, so there's a possibility they're linked in some way.

0101010001101000011001010010000001100100011001010110000101100100001000000110001101100001011011100010000001100010011001010010000001101101011011110111001001100101001000000110000101101100011010010111011001100101001000000110011001101111011100100010000001110101011100110010110001101101011011110111001001100101001000000111000001101111011101110110010101110010011001100111010101101100001011000110110101101111011100100110010100100000011100110110001101100001011100100111100100101100011101000110100001100001011011100010000001110100011010000110010100100000011011000110100101110110011010010110111001100111001011100100100101110100001000000110100101110011001000000111010001101000011001010010000001110001011101010110010101110011011101000110100101101111011011100010000001101111011001100010000001100111011010000110111101110011011101000111001100101110

For those lacking knowledge of binary: The dead can be more alive for us, more powerful, more scary, than the living. It is the question of ghosts.

...I suppose considering other events, it's also possible that I may have misheard part of it, so if someone has a different version, I'd be interested in hearing it as well.

- Brainiac 5

Comments

[byname-bynature.livejournal.com]

Jacques Derrida. He's a French philosopher, recently deceased where I'm from (2004, to be exact). Famous for being the founder of the the approach of 'Deconstruction', and his obsession with the dead.

--A.F. II

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Do you have any idea of how he might be linked to last night's... situation? Or is it more likely some sort of... comment on what happened?

- Brainiac 5

[herr-inspektor.livejournal.com]

It appears as though the message started before the visions and 'deaths' occurred. Whoever transmitted it knew what was coming. I would hazard a guess that it was a warning or an attempt at mockery.

- Inspector Lunge

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

As I mentioned then: some sort of comment on what happened.

- Brainiac 5

((Anonymous))

[intoindra.livejournal.com]

Someone else mentioned the philosophy angle (thanks for that, I'm not in the right frame of mind to talk lucidly about that,) so I'll cover the more basic angle. It does seem that whoever gave the message was using that as a taunt; it was after that point that the ghost appeared for me, and as for the 'powerful' and 'scary' parts... well... let's just say that wasn't an experience I want to go through ever again.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

The translation is really helpful. Can you explain the coding? I think I understand a little, but it's not like most of the ones I've used before.

I see your point though, I'm definitely catching a connection between this and whatever's been going on here lately. First those undead things and now this weird thing with seeing ghosts and feeling their deaths.

Behold Scourge' accurate terminology.

[haplesstracker.livejournal.com]

It's binary. Computers use it. Maybe IRIS was trying to talk to someone else here, although I don't know why it'd be talking so slowly to do it.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

I got that it's binary. The guy up there said it. What I want to know is how to decode it. I can figure it out if I had a couple days to waste, but if someone already has cracked it, it'd be helpful to know how to do it.

[haplesstracker.livejournal.com]

They left out whatever it was in my head that could instatranslate it when they switched me to this body, so don't look at me.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

Instatranslate? As in, your head just encodes and decodes it automatically? Lucky you.

[haplesstracker.livejournal.com]

Pretty much. It's not like binary's a "code" for us, unless by code you mean a way to send messages when you can't do it the normal way.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

Well it's a separate language, isn't it? Which is really odd if you think about it. I mean, everyone else is somehow speaking the same thing, even though we're from all kinds of different worlds. But on that intercom thing, they broadcast something that's in a language distinctly different from what anyone but computers would know about. Especially when they know there's computer or two here that knows how to decode the binary. It's like they wanted us to know about it.

[diamondstorm]

It is a separate language. And for some reason, not one that easily translates. It's useful to use here. Though perhaps it was not that they wanted us to know, but that they had no control over the process.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

I'd have to know more about it I guess. The one who wrote this has to know how to decode it though, right? If more people know how to decode it, we could know what they're saying if something like this happens again.

Do you really think they lost control? It seems weird that they'd broadcast it, but if they didn't have control, maybe that's all there is to it. I can't imagine why they'd want us to intentionally think they'd gotten weaker.

[diamondstorm]

I understand it fluently.

I can't say for certain as of yet. It certainly seemed like a computer program trying to correct an error--which they do with or without the permission of the user. If the night before was an indication, things may have been going wrong since a certain person was reported dead. Then again, it seems that might have changed as well.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

Well I'm glad at least some understand it. The explanation helps. So a computer is talking but if it runs into an error, it has to say this, no matter what? Who's the user?

[diamondstorm]

It depends on the complexity of the error.

And it seems Martin Landel, if 'IRIS' is to be believed. But someone was trying to log on to his account from the same standards. The password didn't match, according to her.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

Sorry, this computer stuff is like speaking another language to me. I'm having a hard time grasping it.

So what exactly is a computer? The user, I'm guessing is whoever is messing with the computer, but if someone else tried to use it, then they would get that error? But it wouldn't allow it because of an incorrect password?

[diamondstorm]

....

...Do you want to meet with me to discuss it?

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

That would probably help a lot. I'm fine with the binary stuff now that the other guy explained it, but I'm still kind of lost about the rest.

[diamondstorm]

Do you have free time today?

[>_<; Renamon only has second shift free.]

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

I'll try. I've been trying to track down some of my teammates and it's getting obnoxious. This place doesn't make communication very easy.

[Ack, yeah and Sakura is only free during 4th D:]

[diamondstorm]

...I've been noticing. If you see me today, feel free if you're not otherwise engaged.

[yep! fourth is fine. ^^ sun room, once Sakura's done with her shower?]

[handwriting is almost entirely unreadable today, and he didn't bother to sign (or spell)]

[slipperymagic.livejournal.com]

Binary is the way that computers express text for instructions and encoding data and programing. Each letter is represented by as combination of 0s ans 1s.

Sadly, I cannot transate it without references.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

So what is a computer, exactly? From the way half these guys are talking it sounds like a race of people. But from others, it sounds like something else.

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

Computers are a form of technology invented in the 20th century on Earth. Binary is the basic code used to program them. In later years, computers become more advanced, and some inorganic lifeforms are seen as living computers by others, which may be the cause of the confusion.

- Brainiac 5

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

Hm. So they were originally man-made and people used this code to tell them what to do? But they later developed into being capable of their own thoughts?

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

You're mostly correct. There's some disagreement about how independent they truly are when it comes to certain situations that people deem as intuitively 'human', such as emotion. Some argue that even a highly advanced program that can emulate such things as well as any human is still a program and therefore... inferior.

It's a complicated topic.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

So some people think that since they're created by people and not natural means, that they're not as good? You're right, it sounds pretty complicated. Still, I'd like to learn more about it.

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

That's a part of it. Though I suppose people also feel threatened on some level. There's a tendency to think that robots or computers will resent organics. Or that, since they're not natural, they're not as 'real' as a human is.

...I'd be open to discussing it further, if you liked.

- Brainiac 5

[diamondstorm]

I'd be interested in discussing this with you as well, if you're open to it.

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

Feel free to locate me whenever you have time. I'm identifiable by this symbol on my forehead.



- Brainiac 5

[diamondstorm]

I will find you tomorrow, provided we are both still here.

I have purple marking under my eyes and on my hands.
-Renamon.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

If you don't mind that I don't know much about it to begin with. I really like learning new things, so I'd love the chance if you have some free time. It'd probably be better to discuss in person though, especially if there's so many conflicting views on it.

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

It's fine. The distraction would be welcome, actually. Feel free to locate me whenever you have time. I'm identifiable by this symbol on my forehead.



- Brainiac 5

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

Got it. I'll definitely take you up on it.

This is our symbol. It's a little different, but anyone from my village should recognize it.

[number-crunch.livejournal.com]

There are 10 kinds of people in the world:
Those who know binary and those who don't.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

That's not ten, that's two, dumbass. If you're trying to be funny or something, it's not working. And if you know how to read that stuff, do something helpful like tell us how to decode it instead of wasting time.

[141-12.livejournal.com]

Ahh, it's a math joke. Sorry about him. But "10" is binary for the number 2. The ones and zeroes represent placeholders rather than numbers, and you have to read it from left to right. One is full, zero is empty, and each placeholder has a different value depending on where they fall on the line. The first is 1, the second is 2, the third is 4, then 8, 16, 32 and so on. It's the place number by the power of two.

So for 10, the first placeholder is empty and the second is full, representing the values of 0 plus 2, equaling 2. In 1010, the second and fourth placeholders are full, representing 0+2+0+8=10. Get it?

1010 also represents the letter A in hexadecimal. It gets a little complicated here. The binary for zero to nine represent 0 to 9 in hexadecimal, then the binary for ten to fifteen represent A to F. These represent all the units you can create with just four places, and these four-place units can be used together to represent letters, among other types of characters. Computers store information in binary for simplicity's sake, and translate into coherent symbols based on the placement of ones and zeroes. Translating it isn't intuitive, but I'll try to break it down for you anyway.

Take our message up there and break it up into four-place units. 0101 0100 0110 1000 0110 0101 0010 0000 0110 0100, that's 5 4 6 8 6 5 2 0 6 4. 54 translates to "T", 68 translates to "h", 65 is "e", 20 is literally the "character" for a space, then 64 is "d", 65 is "e", 61 is "a"... you get it. So 67 68 6F 73 74 73 is "ghosts" — like I said, not intuitive, but it's not really meant to ever be spoken like I.R.I.S. did.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

Very funny, I'm sure.

So this binary thing is more or less a number code. I wish someone had said it so simply before. It's not that hard, I think I understand it now. I guess it's a good thing someone caught it all from beginning to end like that. If they'd been just a couple numbers off, it could've thrown the whole thing out of whack.

Thank you, this has been one of the first posts that was actually helpful.

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

I tend to have a very good memory for such things. It's nowhere near my normal capabilities, but it's... functional. I suppose.

And I apologise for not clearing up the confusion sooner. Binary is such an ancient language, and almost intuitive for my people, I... forgot that others might not know of it.

- Brainiac 5

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

And I thought I had a decent memory. But there's no way I could get something that precise without at least a couple of repeats. That's pretty impressive.

It's alright, I feel like I'm learning a lot. I think it'd be good to pass word around on how to decode it, just in case others aren't around the next time we hear it. Well, if it ever happens again.

[emotionl4arobot.livejournal.com]

I suppose it is when compared to the average human mind. I'm normally able to recall things in exact detail whenever I wish, so I find the change rather frustrating. I'm not sure if my memory would have been as accurate if I weren't already familiar with binary.

Well as the above explanation has already been provided and is accurate, you're welcome to pass it around to others if you wish. And I'd be happy to answer any other questions or help out in any way.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

I'll make sure to do that. I'm Sakura by the way. Haruno Sakura. I appreciate the help!

[number-crunch.livejournal.com]

[Someone has left a small, but fairly complex tesselated origami dodecahedron attached to Otacon's note]

[iwhipthefool.livejournal.com]

Derrida, is it. I see. Thank you for this information.

-Franziska von Karma