Mikhail Epstein's definitions

chronomaniac

chronomaniac n (Gr. khronos, time + Gr. mania, obsession, madness; cf. nymphomaniac) - a person obsessed with time and speed; one who attempts to live faster and to control time expenditure up to the smallest units.

He is a chronomaniac. He looks at his watch every minute.

by Mikhail Epstein November 9, 2003

chronocracy

chronocracy n (Greek khronos, time + Greek kratia, power or rule) Ð rule by the laws of time and by the force of temporality; a form of government based on the recognition of time constraints on any form of power and the necessity for periodic change of leaders and transfer of powers on all levels. Under chronocracy, the social life is determined by the regular replacement of political, scientific, economic, and cultural trends, methods, fashions, and personnel in measured periods of time. Presidents, computers, car models, artistic trends, dress cuts, schoool textbookss, etc. have to change periodically to maintain their authoritative status as "new."

Is America a democracy and what does the term "demos" mean as applied to contemporary societies? No doubt, however, that America is a chronocracy, with a rigid system of enforced change on all levels, from political leaders to dress fashions and technological designs.

by Mikhail Epstein November 13, 2003

chronomania

chronomania n (Greek khronos, time + Greek mania, obsession, madness; cf. megalomania, balletomania) - obsession with time and speed; inclination to utilize every moment and to submit one's life to a total time control.

America suffers from chronomania. Faster, faster, faster! Why not to stop and to look in tranquility where we stand and into which future we have been rushing headlong.

Chronomania may become dangerous for your mental health. Try to find a different focus of life, apart from schedules and deadlines.

by Mikhail Epstein November 9, 2003

Paleonoic era

Paleonoic era adj Greek palaios, ancient + Greek noos, mind; cf. Paleozoic era, from Greek zoe, life Ð the current epoch of ancient mind, of the first intelligent machines; the era that in the history of consciousness takes place similar to that of Paleozoic era in the history of life.

Looking at ourselves from the perspective of a distant future, we appear to be people of Paleonoic era when the first non-biological forms of mind were just emerging, when the forces of thinking just got released from the prison of cranium in creating computers and other increasingly more self-organising forms of artificial intelligence.

by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003

reductive fallacy

an error of reducing higher or more complex processes, such as human behavior and thinking, to its elementary components or material bearers, such as physiological structures or chemical reactions.

Reductive fallacies abound in the popular works of Carl Sagan. For example, he wrote in his best-selling book The Dragons of Eden": "My fundamental premise about the brain is that its workings--what we sometimes call "mind"--are a conse`uence of its anatomy and physiology and nothing more".

by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003

thanatagogy

thanatagogy n (Greek thanatos, death + Greek agein, to lead; cf pedagogy, demagogy, mystagogy) Ð initiation into death, preparation for dying.

Thanatology is the study of death and dying; thanatagogy is a practical branch of this knowledge. The Egyptian "Book of the Dead" is the most ancient manual in thanatagogy.

For Plato, philosophy is thebasis of thanatagogy. To study philosophy is nothing but to prepare oneself to die.

by Mikhail Epstein November 7, 2003

astralgia

astralgia, n. (Gr. astro-, star + Gr. algos Ð pain, grief, distress; cf. nostalgia) - a longing for stars and interstellar travels to the remote corners of the universe; homesickness for cosmos.

The film "Gattaca" is about astralgia. The protagonist, Vincent, though deemed genetically flawed and subsequently fated to Á low-level occupation, pursues to the end his dream of space travel.

by Mikhail Epstein November 16, 2003