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Mikhail Epstein's definitions

dreadvertise (verb; dread + advertise)

to advertise by dread, to engage in military propaganda.
There are skilled dreadvertisers in our government.
by Mikhail Epstein October 2, 2003
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netscapism

netscapism n (net + escapism) - an inclination to retreat from unpleasant realities into the electronic network, or virtual world.
In the past, the wild nature and remote countries were the favorite refuge for escapists. Now netscapism, especially among adolescents, has grown into a serious social problem.
by Mikhail Epstein November 7, 2003
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the booming 1990s, the dooming 2000s

a nickname for our decade
American culture likes to divide itself into decades: the prosperous fifties, the rebellious sixties, the egoistic seventies, the greedy the eighties, the booming ninetees… Finally, the dooming
2000s
by Mikhail Epstein October 8, 2003
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chronocide

chronocide n (Gr. khronos, time + Lat. cidum, from caedere, to slay; cf. genocide, homicide, parricide) - the murder of time, the violent interruption of historical succession and continuity.
Any revolution is a form of chronocide: the past and present are sacrificed to the future. Any counterrevolution is also a chronocide: the present and the future are sacrificed to the past.

Communism is a chronocide: it destroys the tradition in its leap to the ungrounded future.

Fascism is a chronocide: it brings the society under the spell of the archaic past.
by Mikhail Epstein November 9, 2003
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inventurer

inventurer n (invention+adventurer) - adventurer of thinking, seeker of intellectual adventures.
Inventurers know how much they donÕt know; like Socrates and Kant, they start their journey with the confessed Òignorance
by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003
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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
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multividual

multividual n Latin multus, many + Latin individuus, indivisible Ð a multiple individual that embraces many selves and in a technological perspective can possess multiple bodies.
As early as 1970s, psychologists indicated the emergence of a proteic type of personality who combines the properties of different individuals. This is not a schizophrenically split personality, but the one rich in roles and selves, a multividual who cannot be confined to a single self.

The multiplicity of selves often reveals itself in the acts of inspiration and artistic creativity. Eventually these multiple selves will acquire not only symbolical and imaginative embodiments, like in theater, but also independent bodies. Like a bio-species is exemplified by a multiplicity of individuals, a multividual will become a psycho-species exemplified by various organisms. Such multividuals will reach across continents assuming various material guises and performing various social and professional roles, and simultaneously they will be aware of their unique destiny and moral responsibility.
by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003
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