I ran across some old notes on Metatechnologies that I never posted here before. I thought I'd dump them now. They're all technologies based on communication, including one that tries to make high-Metatech characters more able to communicate with the lower-Metatech ones.
Interferometric Semiotics
The higher one's Metatech, the greater the conversational "bandwidth" for information. This lends itself to a serious problem when somebody with posthuman-grade communication potential (high Metatech score) tries listening to somebody with Old-Worlder-grade communication potential (low Metatech score). The signal-to-noise ratio gets extremely low. At differences of 4 or more, it becomes virtually impossible to even recognize that somebody is communicating (meanwhile, your own words, if such they can be called, could be like the word of God to them).
In order to facilitate communication with the "plebians", the discipline of interferometric semiotics was developed. Based on the mathematical principles of interferometry, it allows the listener to mentally repeat the communication, singnal and noise alike, overlapping itself over and over again to cancel the noise levels. This doesn't make the rather thin mode of communication considerably more enthralling, but it does make such communication more accessible.
When using interferometric semiotics, inform the GM that this is what you are doing. Other people's Metatech scores (but not their Reserve) will be considered higher against you. As a general rule, double their scores, but only to a maximum of your own Metatech minus two. Note that this requires concentration and dedication. The GM may require you to spend Reserve to sustain this, and Complications could easily cause you to lose the benefit of this for some time.
Tech Level: Metatech 6
Cost: Expensive. Even if the training is received as a downloaded datablock, it's a rather stiff computational process. There are actually a diverse variety of methods used, each one proprietary.
Descriptors: Procedure
Metalinguistics
High grades of transhuman Metatech allows for considerable social information bandwidth. Some people have utilized this so that, instead of generating an ever-larger amount of subtext, the bandwidth is entirely occupied by primary communication. This is called metalinguistics. Different metalanguages have developed, providing specialized forms of communication. The following are the most common.
High-Density: The primary form of metalanguage, high-density metalanguages fill as much of the bandwidth as possible with primary communication. To anybody not aware of the language, it will seem very much as if the person is simply emitting noise. The subtlety of body language is entirely given over to simple block data transfer. Although large amounts of data can be carried over in a very short period of time, high-density metalanguage functions entirely as normal language in terms of the basic ways in which you communicate. Note that this is a very droll form of communication, excellent for conveying massive amounts of simple data but a decidedly distasteful way of reciting Shakespere. Without the subtext of communication, speech becomes about as interesting as a 20th century computer reading a text file.
Machine Code: This interesting form of communication is primarily used for functional purposes - it has no conversational value. It allows a user operating voice or thought controlled machinery to operate multiple machines at once, as well as (if desired) carrying on an ordinary conversation with a normal person. This is an uncommon metalanguage type, used mostly among the Stored and other cultures where cutting-edge technological interface is a way of life. Typically, only machines will understand the machine code, but it will amount to the occasional (mostly inobtrusive) noise or gesture mixed in with normal conversation. If micro-managing a large number of complex machines, this could very easily occupy the entirety of the speaker's communication bandwidth, the effect of which has been likened to Native American song and dance.
Sensorial: This is the precise opposite of high-density metalanguage (though in some cases a metalanguage can be both, which requires an enormous amount of communication bandwidth). The metalanguage is designed to trigger certain instinctive responses, creating a virtual experience simply by describing it. This isn't truly an hallucination in that the user can quickly identify that they are just imagining it, but the imagination triggers are precise and detailed, mixed into normal description. Cultures that carry these metalanguages typically see a resurgence in the art of storytelling, and professional storytellers can become media sensations (provided they're good at it). This can also be used to recount events in detail in relatively short periods of time. High-density sensorial metalanguages are extremely detailed reconstructions, and somebody who simply "goes with the flow" will experience the described (and possibly made-up) event as if it were a "low-intensity" virtual experience.
Subliminally Decrypted: Perhaps the most advanced metalanguage type, this form of metalanguage doesn't speak to the conscious mind. Instead, it triggers hypothalamic spurs and neurolinguistic recesses to cause the listener to decode the message subliminally. This acts as a sort of "universal language", but is extremely limited. The bandwidth is exceptionally low, because almost all the data imparted is coding data intended to trigger the subliminal queues. The communication bandwidth is possibly lower than it would be for a conversation between two persons of Metatech 1. The experience of listening to someone using a subliminally decrypted metalanguage is surreal, and some people might have difficulty differentiating the speaker's "voice" and their own imagination.
Wordless: Wordless metalanguage is a bit of a misnomer. It does have form and syntax, but the communication is not derived from speaking or signing. Instead, with all the massive subtextual bandwidth available to high-Metatech persons, this does away with primary forms of communication altogether and communicates entirely through the subtextual channels. Both parties must know the metalanguage - indeed, only in the case of subliminally decrypted metalanguage is it not required for both persons to speak the same language. However, unless someone is aware of the metalanguage being used (or notices clues), there will be no obvious signs that those using the metalanguage are communicating at all.
It is quite possible for a metalanguage to have multiple metalingistic descriptors. In this case, the minimum required Metatech Capability is equal to the highest-rated descriptor, plus one for each additional descriptor.
Tech Level:
High-Density: Metatech 5
Machine Code: Metatech 5
Sensorial: Metatech 7
Subliminally Decrypted: Metatech 8
Wordless: Metatech 7
Cost: Varies. Many of these are simple langauges that are learned normally. However, many of these are trade languages of some kind, and are only learned in specialized classes. Some have postulated that the CAPP's Assemly Lens contains an advanced and specialized metalanguage, probably including the descriptors of high-density, sensorial, and wordless. However, it works entirely subliminaly.
Descriptors: Procedure
