snipped
Some reasons why it bothered me (though I can understand if they didn't bother you):
1. This has been translated into her language, and the term "Homo Sapiens" may not be pronouncable in her language and certainly has 0 meaning. Using this phrase that is meaningless in the translated message that has no fundamental meaning to them is a way to send a message to the reader about the species' true identity without tipping off the character, which makes it seem much more like authorial intrusion. I can see the author's hand manipulating the puppets of their manufactured world. It's hard to unsee the man behind the curtain.
This reason I could understand, although I'm not sure if I wholly agree with it.
In my opinion, the man behind the curtain is always there, and you always see him. A story changes based on who is telling it, and catching a glimpse of him can add or subtract from one's enjoyment of the story. Sometimes the curtain is thicker than others, but this shouldn't ruin a story.
2. She doesn't know how to pronounce the words, as they are pictogram based and she has no example to follow or even an idea of the structure of the beings who could pronounce the original language. When I hear the rest of the words I assume they have been translated from the language the narrator understands to English, to give them similar meaning, but that doesn't really make sense for me if it's a word that is meaningless to them. The odds of them guessing the sounds from the pictograms that sound like we'd recognize as "homo sapiens" doesn't really make sense to me.
There could have been a pictorgram for "we who wrote this message". Luulianni translated it into whatever language she understands. So the message wouldn't actually read "Homo Sapiens" but "we who have written this message". The narrator translated it back into a language we understand. But again, the story changes based on who is telling it, and so the narrator, who knows his audience, simply said Homo Sapiens.
In fact, let's take this one step further.
Brace for suspension of disbelief.
Suppose this story exists
on every civilized planet. But in each retelling of the story, it is the planet's dominant species who sent the message.
There, don't feel so special now, do you?
3. If these are truly the creatures from Wind From a Dying Star, I doubt they'd consider themselves homo sapiens anyway.
I actually started listening to EP from episode 239(wow, almost a whole year!), but I will go back and listen to 238.
From what I could piece together, no, those beings would not call themselves Homo Sapiens. But you could see number 2 again.
Or, there is no evidence that this story is, well, I would say in the same universe...
There is no evidence that this story is in the same multiverse as Wind From a Dying Star, similar titles and the same author not withstanding.I went and checked the message again. It reads:
"
Greetings from the species once known as Homo Sapiens. You who read this are, in a way, our children..."
So it could have been those same beings.