Mikhail Epstein's definitions

ride the edge

to be ahead in a certain skill or profession, to be on a cutting edge and take all the risks of being the first and leading the others

A recent graduate in quantum physics, Amalia now rides the edge of nanotechnology.

by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003

defriend

defriend smbd v , transitive de + friend; cf. befriend - to break off friendly relations (with smbd).

He defriended me a year after we met, with no reason or explanation. He just stopped calling, period.

I want to defriend you. Ð What's wrong? - I need something more than friendship from you. I need love.

by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003

humy

humy n (abbreviated and affectionate name of a human being implying smallness) - a human being as a partner or a pet of creatures with artificial intelligence. The term also resonates with "humiliated," the role humans might assume in a technosociety dominated by the humanoid machines.

For somebody as smart as this humy, you have to wonder why it cannot escape death.

by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003

infinition

infinition (definition + infinitity) Ð an infinite process of defining something that cannot be fully or precisely defined; an endless list of possible definitions.

Certain fluid concepts in their emergent state are subject to in-finition--infinite dispersal of their meaning--rather than to definition. To infine is to suggest the infinity of possible definitions of a certain term or concept and therefore to problematize its meaning and the possibility or the benefit of defining it. If definition circumscribes a specific conceptual area, then infinition releases the concept from restricting demarcations and places it in an indeterminate zone. For example, Jacques Derrida never defines his method of deconstruction but only infines it in numerous passages. Infinition is for the humanities what for mathematics is a transcendental number with its "infinite decimal expansion" expressed by a non-periodic decimal fraction: an endless approximation to and escape from a discrete definition.

by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003

gnawledge

gnawledge n. (word-portmanteau: gnaw + suffix ledge; cf. knowledge) mechanical knowledge that is obtained by "gnawing" facts rather than conceptually interpreting them.

When Bacon pronounced "knowledge is power," he meant real knowledge, not gnawledge.

by Mikhail Epstein November 15, 2003

hibyer

hibyer, n. (hi+bye+suffix er)

a marginal acquaintance with whom "hi' and "bye" are the most typical units of verbal exchange; the vocabulary of a minimal relationship.

Do you know this woman? - Not really, we are hibyers.

They were married for ten years, but now they are only hibyers.

I was surprised when hibyer stopped for a more substantial conversation.

by Mikhail Epstein November 16, 2003

virtonautics

virtonautics n (virtual + nautics, from Greek nautikos, of ships, sailing, like in astronautics) Ð experimental exploration and development of virtual worlds.

Now virtonautics is still in embryo, but in the future it will become as common an occupation as aeronautics and astronautics today.

by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003