The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy/Babel fish

The Babel fish is a highly improbable biological universal translator, in The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams. In the novels, the Babel fish was a small fish which, when inserted into the ear? canal translated all languages for the user. This was both a useful plot device for Adams, and the starting point for a joke about the existence of God. The Babel fish was put forth as an example for the NONexistence of God. Something that perfect could only exist if there was a god to create it, so the Babel fish proved there was a god. Proof denies faith however, and faith is the standard by which we are to know God. Oops, says God, without faith I have no followers, and disappears in a theological puff of smoke.(At which point humanity goes on to prove ebony is ivory and gets killed at the next zebra crossing)

The name refers to the Tower of Babel, which is a building referred to in the Bible. The story is supposed to describe the events which lead to God introducing different languages into the world.

The Babel fish inspired the name of an on-line text translation service (http://babelfish.altavista.com) provided by the [web portal]? [Alta Vista]?. The existance of this online service in no way proves or disproves God's existance on the Internet.