mikhail epstein's definitions
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
by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003
Get the ride the edgemug. abbreviation for Electronically Generated Groups, such as smart mobs
or bookcrossing communities, that use the web to ferment their social
bonds in real space and time.
or bookcrossing communities, that use the web to ferment their social
bonds in real space and time.
These EGGs are indeed the eggs of new, trans-electronic sociality.
Do you participate in any EGG? - Yes, I am a seasoned egger.
Do you participate in any EGG? - Yes, I am a seasoned egger.
by Mikhail Epstein October 2, 2003
Get the EGGmug. 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.
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
Get the chronocidemug. Inventurers know how much they donÕt know; like Socrates and Kant, they start their journey with the confessed Òignorance.Ó
by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003
Get the inventurermug. 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.
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
Get the multividualmug. ambipathy n (Latin, Greek ambi- (or amphi), both, on both sides + Greek pathos, feeling) - a mixture of sympathy and antipathy, of attraction and repulsion; a condition of being torn apart by conflicting feelings and aspirations.
"... At once I hate and love as well," - this line by Catullus, Roman poet of the first century BC, is one of the first literary expressions of ambipathy.
Dmitry Karamazov in Dostoevsky says that "a man is too broad" and is equally attracted by the two abysses--the upper and the lower ones, the ideal of Madonna and the ideal of Sodom. In this sense, Dmitry and perhaps Dostoevsky himself are the brightest manifestations of this common trait of ambipathy.
Dmitry Karamazov in Dostoevsky says that "a man is too broad" and is equally attracted by the two abysses--the upper and the lower ones, the ideal of Madonna and the ideal of Sodom. In this sense, Dmitry and perhaps Dostoevsky himself are the brightest manifestations of this common trait of ambipathy.
by Mikhail Epstein November 6, 2003
Get the ambipathymug. a person who enjoys meetings and all sorts of administrative events and tries to attend as many of them as possible.
Being socially active is one thing, meeting for the sake of meeting is another. I try to stay away from meetniks for whom getting together is an end in itself. Meeting without meaning is worse than meaning without meeting.
by Mikhail Epstein October 2, 2003
Get the meetnik (meet + suffix nik)mug.