videocracy

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.

Videocracy has become the flip side of democracy in the mass media age.

by Mikhail Epstein November 14, 2003

syntellect

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

inventure

inventure (invention+adventure) Ð an adventure of mind, creative and engaging intellectual action.

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 Mikhail Epstein November 06, 2003

noocracy

noocracy n Greek noos, mind, and Greek -kratia, power or rule Ð a system of world government based of the integrated mind of civilization and its transpersonal decisions; syntellect as a ruling principle of the future society.

As the thinking matter increases its mass in nature and geo- and biosphere grow into noosphere, the future of the humanity can be envisioned as noocracy--that is the power of the collective brain rather than separate individuals representing certain social groups or society as whole.

by Mikhail Epstein November 06, 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 02, 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

webbiage

webbiage n (web + suffix iage, like in verbiage) Ð excessive use of web tools and design beyond those needed to present a certain content or achieve a certain goal.

Why do you need all this webbiage? Simplify, simplify!

by Mikhail Epstein November 02, 2003