Technobabble
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Technobabble (a portmanteau of technology and babble) is a form of prose using jargon, buzzwords and highly esoteric language to give an impression of plausibility through mystification and misdirection. This is not to be confused with jargon itself, but rather technobabble is a conscious attempt to deliver jargon to outsiders, without insight or comprehensive explanation, to make unsound or unprovable arguments appear to have merit.
Various fields of practice and industry have their own specialised vocabularies (jargon) that are intended to convey specific features in a concise manner to those educated within that industry, which would otherwise appear confusing or nonsensical to an outside listener. Additionally, the sound use of jargon will concisely convey information (even if that information is not fully understood by the listener). Conversely, the primary function of technobabble is to obscure the truth of a situation by overdressing the words and concepts.
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[edit] Common Uses
Authors and others who wish to convey a feeling of technical sophistication may write or talk in technobabble. They may use the jargon without considering what it actually means in order to give an impression that they know things that their readers or listeners do not. However, if the jargon is decoded it becomes apparent that the originator does not really understand what has been said or is deliberately being unclear. When used in this way, technobabble is considered pretentious and often unacceptable. If used inappropriately even novice listeners can often detect that nonsense is being spouted forth.
[edit] Forms
There are two forms of technobabble. The first form, mostly used in fiction, depends on jargon terms and story features that are specific or even exclusive to the story's universe. Stringing together a series of these elements to explain a problem or solution allows the author to easily craft a situation without having to depend on real-world laws to correlate to or confirm it. For example, a specialised form known as Treknobabble can be found in the various Star Trek television programs and movies. Other science fiction movies and literature have their own form of technobabble. This is often done because the concepts and items being talked about are fictional but necessary for the story. This form of technobabble is amusing to some viewers and off-putting to others.
The second form of technobabble comes from the practice of taking an otherwise simple concept and describing it in a scientifically-overworked manner to mask its inherent simplicity (see: Sesquipedalian Obscurantism). One well-known example is the dihydrogen monoxide hoax, describing the supposedly dangerous characteristics of ordinary water by labelling the substance with an esoteric chemical name. Another example can be found in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home as Spock explains a theory that "high energy photons" from a nuclear fission reactor may allow them to repair their ship's engine. Since the "high energy photons" in a nuclear fission reaction are commonly known as gamma rays, a form of radiation assumed to be easily producible by 23rd Century starship technology, the vague description used is intended to disguise what should be an easily solved problem.
Some forms of technobabble have the goal of intentionally convince the reader that the science explained is true even though it may not be. One such example is Isaac Asimov's "The Endochronic Properties of Resubliminated Thiotimoline" (1948). Another example is Alan Sokal's "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity" (1996), in which Sokal submitted a seeming real, but non-sensical paper to the Journal Social Text in order to make a point about the social aspects of the scientific process.
