mikhail epstein's definitions

chronopath

chronopath n. (Gr. khronos, time + Gr. patheia, suffering) Ð a person who suffers from chronopathy, i.e. a disorder of time sense.

chronopathic adj Ð characterized by chronopathy.

Why are you always late? Are you a chronopath?

He has no ill intentions or disrespect when he misses one appointment after another. He is severely chronopathic since his childhood.

by Mikhail Epstein November 13, 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 6, 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 2, 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 6, 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

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

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