FUTIQUE NEOLOGISMS

Compiled by Max More.

FUTURE SHOCK - “a sense of bewilderment felt by those who were not paying attention.” - Michael Flynn, ANALOG Jan 1990.

ARCH-ANARCHY - the view that we should seek to void all limits on our freedom, including those imposed by the laws of nature. [TWB, 1990]

ATHANASIA - the act of preventing death. [WTQ, 1988]

ATHANOPHY - a philosophical system that offers a possible means of overcoming death scientifically. [RMP, 1991]

ANTIFUTURE - resisting the future. Pessimistic. Reactionary. [FM]

BIOLOGICAL FUNDAMENTALISM - a new conservatism that resists asexual reproduction, genetic engineering, altering the human anatomy, overcoming death. A resistance to the evolution from the human to the posthuman. [FM]

BIOSTASIS - suspension of all biological activity, usually by infusing the patient with cryoprotective chemicals and freezing or vitrifying (cryonics), or by chemically bonding cellular components in place. [KED, 1986]

CHIMP (or NEUROCHIMP) - an integrated chip implant into the brain. May be a chip/brain interface device, or additional mindware which passes through a chip/brain interface. [MM, 1990]

CHRONONAUTS - those who travel through time, either by biostasis or other means.

CONTELLIGENCE - [Consciousness + Intelligence]. The combination of awareness and computational power required in an Artificially Intelligent network before we could, without loss of anything essential, upload our selves into them. [TL]

CYBERNATE/CYBERNIZE - to automate a process using computers and robots.

CYBERSPACE/CYBERMATRIX - the informational and computational space existing in and between computers.

DEANIMALIZE - replace our animals organs and body parts with durable painfree non-flesh prostheses. [FM]

DEATHISM - the set of beliefs and attitudes which glorifies or accepts death and rejects and despises immortalism.

DEEP ANARCHY - The view that “the State” has no real existence; “states” can be “abolished” only by changing beliefs and behavior. [MM, 1989]

DEFLESH - replace flesh with nonflesh. [FM]

DEMORTALIZATION - rejuvenation. [BS, 1985]

ECTOGENESIS - in vitro reproduction; non-flesh wombs.

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EPHEMERALISTS - mortals who reject immortalist technology and philosophy (the result of deathist thinking). [MM, 1990, from “Ephemeral”, RAH, 1958]

ETERNALS - Immortal beings.

EUPRAXOPHY - (Good practice, active wisdom): A philosophy of life. [PK, 1988]

EXTROPY - The process of expanding personal, social, psychological, and spatial freedom, expanding intelligence, wisdom, opportunity, lifespan, personal power and diversity. The collection of forces which oppose entropy. [TWB, 1988]

EXTROPIAN - one who affirms the extropy philosophy; anything which consciously promotes extropy.

EXTROPIANISM - The philosophy which aims at extropy.

EXTRO-LIBERTARIANISM - libertarianism conditioned by the extropian perspective. [MM]

EXTROPOLOGIST - One who studies and develops the extropian vision. [MM]

EVOLUTIONARIES - The extropian alternative to revolutionaries. (cf. Timothy Leary’s “Intelligence Agents”) - those who try to accelerate the move from humanity, through transhumanity, to posthumanity. [MM, 1990]

EYEPHONES - a video headset, consisting of two high-definition screens or retinal projectors, worn over the eyes. Some have inertial sensors for tracking head movements. Used for entering virtual reality. (Also: Cybervisor)

FUTANT - “Future-oriented mutation”; one whose ideas, interests, and personal qualities are attuned to the technologically mature times ahead. [TL?]

FUTATION - Any mutation, genetic or memetic, that makes a person or society more effective in

the future. [MM]

FUTIQUE - Stylishly futuristic.

FUTOPIA - the possible coming technological global “post-scarcity society”, specifically one which includes space colonies, robot labor, nanotechnology, AI, personality uploading, intelligence increase, life extension, and so on. (Future + utopia.) [RHE, 1990]

GENGINEERING - genetic engineering.

HEADWARE - Programming for your brain [TL].

HYPERTEXT - massively interconnected database; references can be traced backwards and forwards. [TD]

IMMORTALISM - the commitment to achieving and maintaining an unlimited life and self-development; the belief in the desirability of abolishing death.

IMP - electronic implant, usually in the brain. [RHE]

INACTIVATE - non-living but not dead. A person in biostasis, or one subsisting in data storage awaiting downloading. [MM, 1989]

INFOTOPIA - a possible computer-generated reality which provides (through personality uploading) immortality of consciousness, and infinite user-defined virtual realities. [GMG, 1990]

MEME - self-reproducing idea or other information pattern which behaves like a gene. [RD, 1976]

MEMETICS - the study of memes. [DRH]

MEMOID (or MEMEOID) - True Believer in a meme and willing to die for it. [KH, 1985]

METABOLICALLY DISADVANTAGED - [Humorous] Biostasis/cryonics patients. [SBH, 1990]

MINDFOOD - Substances which increase cogni-

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tive efficiency.

MINDWARE - Programming for your brain. [TL]

NANITE - a self-reproducing nanotechnological machine. [From the Star Trek TNG episode “Evolution”, 1990.]

NANOID - a naive and ill-informed pro-nanotech propagandist; like Lyndon LaRouche, supports military nanotech and fastest possible implementation. Even more dangerous than a nanophobe. (Fr. nano + memoid.) [GMG, 1990]

NANOMEME - any idea regarding nanotech; The Nanomeme: the nanotech meme-complex, considered as a whole. [GMG, 1990]

NANOPHILE - a well informed nanotech propagandist; supports non-military research and careful and considered implementation; against misinformation, false nanomemes. [GMG, 1990]

NANOPHOBE - a person against nanotech research and implementation; a Rif. [GMG, 1990]

NANOPUTER - a molecular-scale computing device. [MM, 1990]

NANOTECHNOLOGY (NANOTECH) - the technology of molecular-scale machines; from nanometer: a billionth of a meter. [ED, 1985?]

NANOTEK - Fictional portrayals of nanotechnology which may or may not be workable future devices.

NE - (pronounced “nee”) the singular form of a genderless third-person pronoun which refers to a person who is of neither sex, as in: “Ne is an artificial intelligence.” Objective nem, possessive nes (pronounced “nez”). (See se.) [GMG, 1990]

NEOPHILE - One who welcomes the future and who enjoys change and evolution.

NEOPHOBE - One who fears change and wants to

kill the future; one who is antifuture.

NEURONAUT - One who explores his/her own neural functioning by various means, including deep introspection and meditation, psychoactive drugs, mind machines and neuroscientific understanding.

NEURONUTRIENT - same as “mindfood”. [MM]

NEUROPROSTHESIS - Implanted cybernetic brain augmentation.

NOBOT - member of an anti-robot lobbyist group; also, by extension, any persons against robots. [RHE, 1990]

NOOTROPICS - Mindfood substances. [CG, 1972]

ONEIROGEN - oneirogenic (dream or REMstate producing) drug. [RHE, 1990]

POSTHUMAN - Someone who has made such radical biological, genetic and neurological changes that they are no longer human. [FM]

POSTIQUE - Stylishly futuristic (like Futique). (Antonym of antique.) [RHE, 1990]

RIF - a Rifkinite, or supporter of Jeremy Rifkin and his anti-nanotech, anti-genetic engineering crusade; against any and all research or implementation in these areas. A nobot, or nanophobe. [GMG, 1990]

SE - (pronounced “see”) the subjective form of a third-person singular pronoun of non-specific gender, to be used in place of “he” or “she” when referring to an individual of unspecified sex, as in “An author should be careful that se isn’t making a fool of semself by allowing sexist default concepts to appear in ses work.” Objective sem, possessive ses (pronounced “sez”), reflexive semself. Also denotes a person who is of multiple sexes, as in “Se is an hermaphrodite.” (See ne, ser.) [GMG, 1990]

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SER - (pronounced “sair”) a non-gender-specific title of courtesy. [GMG, 1990]

SINGULARITY - the point or period in our future when our self-guided evolutionary development accelerates enormously (powered by nanotech, neuroscience and AI) so that nothing beyond that time can be reliably conceived. [VV, 1986]

SPONTANEOUS VOLUNTARISM - a fully free society, with a totally free market and no institutionalized coercion. [MM, 1989]

TELEGENESIS - producing babies from the stored sex cells of men and women who may never have met or who may not even have been contemporaries. [FM]

TRANSHUMAN - Someone in the transition stage to posthumanity. One who orients his/her thinking towards the future to prepare for coming changes and who seeks out and takes advantage of opportunities for self-enhancement. [JH]

TRANSHUMANITIES - art, literature, and other aesthetic media for transhumans. [MPI, 1990]

TRANSHUMANISM - a philosophy of life focussing on self-transformation into a condition beyond that of the human. [MM, 1990]

UNIVERSAL IMMORTALISM - the view that the problem of death in its entirety (including bringing back those who were not suspended) can be solved in its entirety through a rational, scientific approach. [RMP, 1990]

UP (UP-WING) - the commitment to the next stage in evolution. A philosophy of optimism, abundance, universalism, immortality. Similar to Extropian. [FM, 1970]

UTOPIANTS - Drugs which balance pleasurable effects with minimal or no toxic consequences, have fixed durations of action, and contain built-in chemical antagonists to prevent addiction or overdose. [RS, 1989]

VENTURISM - an immortalist transhumanism founded on the principles (1) to do what is right, understood as implying the benefitting of sentient life and the resduction or elimination of abuses to the same, and (2) the advocacy and promotion of the worldwide conquest of death through technological means. [DP, 1986]

VIRTUAL REALITY - a computer interface that allows the user to move through and interact with a computer-generated world in three dimensions.

YOGATRONICS - Yoga aided by technology, such as biofeedback.

Neologizers:

BS - Bruce Sterling.

CG - C. Giurgea.

DP - David Pizer.

DRH - Douglas R. Hofstadter.

FM - FM-2030 (previously F.M. Esfandiary).

GMG - Glenn Grant.

JH - Julian Huxley.

KED - K. Eric Drexler.

KH - Keith Henson.

MM - Max More.

MP - Mark Plus.

PK - Paul Kurtz.

RD - Richard Dawkins.

RAH - Robert A. Heinlein.

RS - Ronald Siegal.

RHE - Ron Hale Evans.

RMP - R. Michael Perry.

SBH - Steven B. Harris.

TWB - Tom W. Bell.

TL - Timothy Leary.

TD - Ted Nelson.

VV - Vernor Vinge

WTQ - W.T. Quick.

The source of unattributed neologisms is unknown to the compiler. For future editions please inform me of any errors in attribution and year. Thanks to Ron H. Evans (of Singularity) and Glenn Green (of Edge Detector) for their neologisms. Submissions for future editions are encouraged.

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