videocracy n. (from Latin video, I see + Latin cratia, from Greek kratos, power, rule; cf. ideocracy) Ð the power of visual images in shaping contemporary societies; the crucial impact of television, cinema, internet, and advertising on public opinion, political affairs, market strategies, etc.
by Mikhail Epstein November 14, 2003
Get the videocracymug. protologism n Greek protos, first, original + Greek logos, word; cf. prototype, neologism - a newly created word which has not yet gained any wide acceptance. It is a prototype or a hypothetical projection of a new lexical unit before it may become current in writing or speech. The word "protologism" proposed here and now is itself an example of protologism.
In contrast to protologisms, neologisms are words that have already been in public usage by authors other than their inventors. As soon as a protologism finds its way into newspapers and websites, journals and books, it becomes a neologism.
by Mikhail Epstein November 06, 2003
Get the protologismmug. syntellect n (Greek syn, with, together + intellect) Ð the unified mind of civilization that integrates all individual natural and artificial minds through the mediation and accumulative effects of informational networks.
Intellectual network--inteLnet--will connect all thinking beings into one communicational network that gradually will develop into a new form of consciousness--syntellect. The syntellect will absorb and condense the potentials of all thinking beings and will operate on both biological and quantum levels.
by Mikhail Epstein November 06, 2003
Get the syntellectmug. This book is about the invention of radio, but it reads like a thriller, with one inventure piled upon another.
By cutting reason down to size and establishing its ÒproperÓ limits, Kant encouraged subsequent inventures, a never-ending quest to reach beyond the limits of rational thought.
By cutting reason down to size and establishing its ÒproperÓ limits, Kant encouraged subsequent inventures, a never-ending quest to reach beyond the limits of rational thought.
by Mikhail Epstein November 06, 2003
Get the inventuremug. 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 06, 2003
Get the infinitionmug. 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.
by Mikhail Epstein November 02, 2003
Get the humymug. gnawledge n. (word-portmanteau: gnaw + suffix ledge; cf. knowledge) mechanical knowledge that is obtained by "gnawing" facts rather than conceptually interpreting them.
by Mikhail Epstein November 15, 2003
Get the gnawledgemug.