Could Yeerks be Used for Education/Learning?

[Damien]

I remember reading in one of the books that not only does the yeerk have full access of the host's memories etc. but the host has access to the yeerks memories...

So imagine using yeerks for education purposes. Put a yeerk in... lets say a English speaking person. Then put it in a Spanish speaking person, who the Spanish speaker learn English since the yeerk would know English?


Edit:
And if it applies to language couldn't it also apply for anything else such as fighting skills, or being able to pilot a plan, or drive a car?

[Myitt]

That's an interesting question...for that matter, would a host learn Galard/Yeerkish/Hork-Bajir if their Yeerk used it all the time?  Maybe if the Yeerk allowed some sense of understanding the language structure.  Must be really weird to have someone speaking an alien language you don't understand through your own mouth. 

I think it's a neat idea.  Maybe for like, a fanfic or whatever.  Learn a language the easy way!  Give up control of your body to an alien brain slug!

[Damien]

I think it's a neat idea.  Maybe for like, a fanfic or whatever.  Learn a language the easy way!  Give up control of your body to an alien brain slug!

Are you having trouble with learning a different language? Think you're to old to learn. Want to know how to pilot a plane or be a black belt? Well you thought wrong! Join the sharing and all these problems (and more) will be solved!

I don't know why but I thoguth of some kind of cheesy commercial when you said that 

[Myitt]

I can see it now...at 2 in the morning, on every channel!  Buy it now!

I'm sure it wouldn't be like an instant download, but it sure would help to have an expert on a subject in your head x3

[Terenia]

I think the answer is: to an extent.

I think a person trying to learn, say, French from a Yeerk who was formerly in a French person would naturally pick up on things, especially if the Yeerk actively uses French in the non-French speaking host. However, I don't think the host would have full access to the language without the Yeerk. He/She may know words and simple phrases, but they'd be far from fluent.

However, I think it would be much easier for a host to become fluent in another language by paying close attention as a way to supplement the natural absorption of information between host and Yeerk.

Now, if you put a Yeerk in a person with an IQ of 50 are they going to be able to learn how to build Z-space engines? I doubt it.

In summation: Pieces of information transfer, but concepts require a deeper understanding that has to come from the host him/herself.

[ThinkAgain]

Well say this. I can speak some Spanish, but it's far from fluent. (I mix up tenses, etc.) I'd sound pretty dumb to a Spanish speaking person, but I'm far from starving if you drop me in the middle of Mexico.

Assume a Yeerk who knew Spanish was put in my head, and dumped its memories to me (sort of how Jake's Yeerk dumped memories of Tom on him)

Would I rapidly become fluent in Spanish?

[Terenia]

If that Yeerk was using Spanish regularly and you were concentrating on the conversations instead of screaming pointlessly for help, probably.

If you spend all your time trying to fight for freedom and not thinking about what the Yeerk is saying/doing, probably not. I don't think the knowledge just becomes yours. Facts might (like the facts of Tom's Yeerks former hosts), but knowledge that requires processing probably works a bit different. I don't think that if you spend all of your time shouting obscenities in English and ignoring your Yeerk you'll come out of it fluent....of course I could be totally off base.


Also, just because you speak a little Spanish and your Yeerk is fluent....if your Yeerk is assigned to the Blade Ship and only ever speaks Galard, do you even have an opportunity to learn Spanish from it? I don't think you would....

Comprende? 

[ThinkAgain]

Si, comprendo.

But in the book where Cassie morphs Yeerk, she "knew" how to drive from the host's memories. All she did was look at his memories, and she could drive. So, if a Yeerk downloaded driving memories to someone, why couldn't they drive as well? Or do advanced calculus? As long as they have the physical and metal capacities, why couldn't it be almost instant? If the Yeerk instantly gave me all the memories of a three year course, why would it be any different for acquiring the memories myself?

[Terenia]

I don't know. A Yeerks brain is designed for the absorption of a host's abilities, while a humans brain is not. If the Yeerk weren't naturally able to learn from their host, they wouldn't have advanced very far. I'm not sure if our brains work in the same sort of way, which may be the determining factor.

[Phoenix004]

Obviously the Yeerk has full access to the hosts memories, but it doesn't seem to go both ways unless the Yeerk allows it to, or is to weak to resist (for example, Jake only saw parts of his Yeerk's memories as it was dying in his head). However, assuming the Yeerk let you, you might be able to use it as an educational tool for Humans, at least in theory.

The only real flaw is the thing that Terenia pointed out. If the Yeerk gives the host information on how to do something that's far too complicated for the host to understand, then the host isn't going to be able to do it. Like if someone showed you a video of how to build a supercomputer, would you then be able to go out and build one yourself? I doubt it.

The Yeerk's ability to absorb information is an incredible advantage though. Let's face it, the only reason they're as smart as they are is because of stolen technology and stolen memories from smarter species. Visser Three was a fool to not take a human host, even for a brief amount of time. He would have learned a lot about the human race. Visser One was smarter because she'd been through several human hosts.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Now, if you put a Yeerk in a person with an IQ of 50 are they going to be able to learn how to build Z-space engines? I doubt it.

Not to mention, I think this 'intelligence' thing goes both ways to an extent.  Think of Hork-Bajir controllers.  They seem to be not terribly smarter than their hosts, probably because they're so linked to their host's brain that they absorb its traits.

By that logic, it's about as likely for a person with a Spanish-speaking Yeerk to learn Spanish, as for the Yeerk itself to forget Spanish . . . or at least become less fluent in it.  And when you think about it, this makes sense.  Being fluent in a language requires some ability to 'think' in that language, and when you've got another person under your control who thinks in a different language, you're bound to get confused.

[Brad the Brit]

Not to mention, I think this 'intelligence' thing goes both ways to an extent.  Think of Hork-Bajir controllers.  They seem to be not terribly smarter than their hosts, probably because they're so linked to their host's brain that they absorb its traits.

maybe yeerks are naturally extremely stupid (like goldfish or normal slugs). but when they are in a host body they gain or even boost the intelligence of that host...
say a gedd only has around a 50 IQ. insert a yeerk and that IQ is increased to about 90... this would allow them that limited ability to speech that they possessed... it would also explain the reason why at first they liked living with the yeerks....
this also displays the reason why the yeerk-gedd couldn't create technology.

of course this theory starts to degrade once we get to human controllers but it is possible that yeerks absorb knowledge and this in turn increases their IQs... i.e. a yeerk demoted from human host to hork-bajir host will have increased intelligence than a yeerk who resides only in a hork-bajir host.

this could also explain the yeerks suddenly having morals once in human hosts.  hork-bajir are not intelligent enough to have a strong opinion about something. but humans where the most intelligent of all their hosts. and also we fight better....

((i think this may be my longest ever post)) 

[Galladerotom]

Well a yeerk basicly hacks the host brain to become an extension of itself so when the yeerks are exposed to the language area's of the brain it would absorb that information. So a yeerk could transfer that knowledge to a new host.

[ThinkAgain]

Also, think of the first Yeerk to take a human host. It didn't speak English, that much I can guarantee, yet it had no problem communicating with it and understanding its thoughts (Visser One).

A Yeerk can choose to give a host that same knowledge by the same process. I think that a Yeerk could give a human host all that knowledge instantly, it would just be a matter of whether the human can comprehend it.

In theory though, couldn't the Yeerk also give the knowledge required to comprehend it? For the Z-space example, couldn't they just give everything from basics about space, and every step and component up to a Z-Space transmitter? As long as the human isn't handicapped, he/she shouldn't have a serious problem putting the steps together.

An argument could be that someone takes a math class, yet some people do not understand the math while others do. So yes, it does have it's limits. You can't give a very young or unintelligent person science from basic chemistry up to advanced theoretical physics, and expect them to make head or tails of it.

[Gumby]

I think so, the yeerk could teach more efficiently than any teacher.