Words
Common Speech
- Adhocracy
- A non-bureaucratic networked organization.
- Agent
- A more or less independent piece of software that can do things
on behalf of its owner. Sometimes equipped with some smarts.
- BCBG
- (adj.) "Bon Chic, Bon Gens", "prim and proper". Originally
French slang, now used extensively in the EU to refer to bourgeois,
upper middle-class, excessively formal and conservative. "He
doesn't look BCBG enough to be a politician".
- Bunk
- A (youth) subculture based on direct bodily satisfaction, that
turns its back on all higher goals.
- Canton
- An official PRC enclave, usually in proximity to some
industrial project. The Cantons are standardized and usually
tightly controlled.
- Gerk
- Short for gerontocrat. Derogatory word for an officious older
person.
- Globoboss
- A cosmopolitan executive that has the ability to perform well
across the globe. Used both for politicians and executives on the
international level.
- Infoglut
- Information addiction; some people cannot resist being
connected to the Net all the time, absorbing endless streams of
apparently useful, educational or entertaining information.
- Mediated Reality
- A wearable where the computer processes what the user sees
before showing it. This enables light amplification, image
manipulation, information overlays and riding.
- Meme
- Self-reproducing idea or other information pattern which is
propagated in ways similar to that of a gene.
- Mouse potato
- The online, wired generation's answer to the couch potato.
- Mutual reality
- Multi-user virtual reality.
- Neoliberalism
- A libertarian youth movement.
- Non-ec
- Non-ecological. Slang for anything that is not regarded as
environmentally friendly, politically correct or decent. Used
seriously by many greens, derogatorily by many others.
- POTUS
- Acronym for the President of the United States. Sometimes
VPOTUS and FLOTUS are used for the Vice President of the United
States and the First Lady of the United States. Originally secret
service slang, but has become widespread. Slightly derogatory.
- PLA
- People's Liberation Army, the PRC army.
- PRC
- People's Republic of China. Includes Hong Kong, Macao and the
former Republic of China (Taiwan).
- Protection drink
- A drink with chemoprotectants, vitamins, fruit and other
healthy stuff, drunk before starting serious boozing. Usually
mostly symbolic.
- Smarts
- Smart software. Software that can learn, make decisions or act
on its own in somewhat intelligent ways.
- Stress puppy
- A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and
whiny.
- Sun city
- Small towns or communities built for the elderly and their
needs; named after the original city outside Phoenix, Arizona.
- Telepeon
- Derogatory term for lower middle class telecommuters, doing
routine work from home. A somewhat nicer term for telecommuters is
telepeople; this is also used to denote people spending much time
on the net or in virtuals.
- Ubicomp
- Small, very cheap computers found on desks everywhere forming a
local area network.
- Virtual
- A virtual world on the net, usually some form of game,
interactive entertainment or meeting place.
- Virr
- Someone completely addicted to virtuals.
- Watcher
- A small program left to watch over some data, reporting back if
it is changed in some way.
- Wearable
- A computer embedded in the clothing or otherwise worn.
- Wordrobe
- A person's vocabulary.
Tech Jargon
- Alife
- Artificial life, self-evolving or lifelike complex systems in
computer programs able to produce behaviors not contained within
rules set by the programmers. Used by gardeners to develop new
software.
- Authentification
- A digital signature proving that the originator of a message is
who he or she claim it is. Unauthenticated messages can be
forged.
- Bug
- See Gnatbot.
- Blight
- A computer virus that infiltrates systems and use their
computing power to increase its own power.
- C3I
- Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence.
- Cryp
- Cryptographic currency, digital cash. Payment by electronic
means where the seller is guaranteed payment, but the buyer can
remain anonymous.
- Droner
- People who control drones, robot teams or teamware. The term
suggests somebody sitting in a comfy chair, directing hordes of
agents to do the real work.
- Exoself
- Systems linked to the self in a cooperative way, extending the
mind and the body. A typical example would be a wearable, with
agents and watchers on the Net.
- Gardener
- A programmer using genetic algorithms or alife to develop new
software.
- Gomi
- (Japanese) Junk, garbage. Random data, or wandering net-packets
that lower performance.
- Gnatbot
- A small robot, often insectlike, used for surveillance. Also
called a bug.
- Goo
- Destructive nanites that replicate themselves using resources
in the environment. The favorite nanotech disaster scenario.
- Microbots
- A very small robot, ranging from the micrometer scale up to the
millimeter or centimeter scale (a "gnatbot")
- Memory Palace
- A secure datastore, a safe virtual place where sensitive
information can be hidden. Some memory palaces have semi-autonomous
functions allowing them to gather information from the net,
possibly reacting if something happens to their owner.
- Nym
- Short for pseudonym. A persistent online identity, identified
through a handle and a public key. A Nym is not traceable to the
user's physical identity ("true name") and can develop its own
reputation and history on the net.
- Recipe
- A program that is run on a matter compiler, instructing it to
put together atoms into an object.
- Social Engineering
- To get information through impersonation or duping people
rather than technological means. A common strategy for gaining
access for cracking.
- Stego
- Steganographia, the art of sending secret messages hidden in
apparently innocuous messages.
- True name
- The real identity of somebody, not just their nym. If you know
the true name, then you have a certain amount of blackmail power
over that person.
- Borgware
- Software which, once installed, requires the use of other
products by the same company.
- Nanite
- Slang term for a nanomachine, esp. a machine able to survive
and replicate itself on its own.
- Nanofacture
- The fabrication of goods using nanotechnology
- Riding
- To see through another's wearable computer; this allows friends
to give advice or support to the one being ridden.
- Smart bullet
- "Smart drugs", psychoactive drugs with extremely specific and
restrictive effects. Have very few side effects and can in
principle be used to tailor mental states.
- Squirt the Bird
- To transmit a signal to a satellite.
InfoWar Jargon
- Crypto Anarchy
- The economic and political system after the deployment of
encryption, untraceable e-mail, digital pseudonyms, cryptographic
voting, and digital cash. A pun on "crypto," meaning "hidden," and
as when Gore Vidal called William F. Buckley a "crypto
fascist."
- Cypherpunk
- One interested in the uses of encryption using electronic
cyphers for enhancing personal privacy and guarding against tyranny
by centralized, authoritarian power structures, especially
government.
- Eurasia
- After Orwell's 1984. The economic trading block consisting of
the EU and Russia.
- FOG
- The Fascist OverGovernment. Slang term for the
government-corporate complex. Began among the American branch of
the TU (likely picked up from right-wing groups) and has since then
spread. Members of the FOG are sometimes called foggies.
- Hacker
- Somebody developing a field beyond the conventions. Originally
used mainly for computer hackers (today called infohackers), but
now used for many other areas: nanohackers, biohackers,
cryptohackers, polihackers.
- Fourth World
- Areas of total disaster and anarchy, such as sub-saharan
Africa.
- InfoWar
- The secret conflict between the forces trying to prevent change
and the forces trying to bring it about.
- Interfacer
- A person who acts as an interface between virtual corporations
or other net-based organizations, and the physical world and its
local economic rules.
- Nanarchist
- Someone who circumvents government control to use
nanotechnology, or someone who advocates this.
- Oceania
- After Orwell's 1984. The economic trading block consisting of
Japan, Korea, USA, Mexico and Canada.
- Pavlov
- Derogatory name for a scientist working for the Russian
Underground.
- Polihacker
- Political hacker. Somebody able to hack politics or
business.
- Polwar
- Political warfare, psychological attacks on civilian, military
or political infrastructure.
- Popaganda
- Music that is popular with the general public, and has purpose
or is trying promote particular ideas
- Rolling out Mandela
- A term in cynical Brussels circles for the method of bringing
out some aged, well liked statesman to legitimize something people
would not otherwise swallow.
- Slork
- A military junta of a third world country that isn't unstable,
has ramifications in its society's structure and provides much of
the infrastructure (e.g. airlines, banking, sometimes even the
phone networks). Slorks are interesting in the InfoWar, since they
provide both a threat and possibility - they can be dealt with,
unlike the mad warlords. Make no mistake, they are fiercely against
the Concordat and will gladly commit mass murder to protect their
power. The name SLORK was originally the name for the Burmese junta
in the early 90's, and the name sounded like a bad criminal
organization in a James Bond movie, so it stuck.
- South-East Asia
- After Orwell's 1984. The economic trading block consisting of
the PRC, south-east Asia and partially Australia.
- TAZ
- Temporary Autonomous Zone: A mobile or transient location free
of economic and social interference by the state.
- Transhumanist
- Somebody who wants to use the new technologies to become more
than human.
- TU
- Technological Underground. The groups fighting for the
development of advanced technology against the anti-tech policies
of the FOG and luddite groups.
Concordat Jargon
- Acme
- V. "to acme someone", defeating another in a subtle and
non-orthodox way that doesn't involve violence. From Sun Tzu's The
Art of War: "The acme of skill is to subdue an adversary without
killing him."
- Affil
- One's affiliation, the organization or ideology one adheres to.
"My affil is to the Atlanteans"
- Algernon
- Someone with enhancements with a price (such as side effects,
being conspicuous or interference with other enhancements). Such
enhancements are caller algernonic.
- Alice and Bob
- Nickname for the Cryptoanarchists (all of them, or
individually: "Hey! Bob, take a look at this!"). From the standard
characters in many cryptography thought-experiments (where there
often is an enemy Eve who tries to eavesdrop; cypherpunks sometime
refer to their enemies as "Eves").
- Atlantean
- Member of the TU who do not want to release the new
technologies to the public for free.
- Bat
- Meddler, somebody who cannot resist intrigue for intrigue's
sake or wants to get involved with everything. From the Cantonese
word for 'eight', suggesting somebody nosing around in the eight
directions (the original pronunciation has vanished from spreading
in text).
- Bisoraa!
- From the Arab word of "quickly". Used when saying that
something has to be done very quickly and recklessly.
- Bootstrap
- "To lift oneself in one's bootstraps". The process of using
one's resources to gain more, the basis of many Concordat projects.
"The barefoot teachers are bootstrapping India, each one is
training several others".
- Breaking the Monkey Tower
- To overcome the biological limitations of humanity, to truly
hack the brain. Corrupted by some infantile joker to "Spanking the
Monkey Tower"
- Bugor
- "The boss". Originally a Russian prison term, now used for
criminal (or criminal-like) bosses in the Russian Underground and
elsewhere.
- Cabal
- Used to describe a person that uses the mental doublethink
technique very often. He has become a confederation of different
persons with different roles in society.
- Convoy
- A "virtual convoy" when very sensitive information is sent
using extremely safe channels with the best available crypto.
- Crucified Santa Claus
- A big inter-cultural mistake, when someone trying to adapt to
or imitate a culture really mess things up. A slightly joking term,
named after an incident when a Japanese department store tried to
make a "western" Christmas display, and placed a crucified santa
claus in the middle.
- Digs
- Digital cash, especially the kind used on the Market that is
backed by the "diggers" group.
- Dilbertism
- (Named after the cartoon 'Dilbert' before the turn of the
century) The system of inefficiency, incompetence and rigidity that
tends to paralyze large organizations that do not have to directly
face the consequences of their incompetence. Endemic in the
FOG.
- Drex
- Nanohacker. From K. Eric Drexler.
- Fnord
- (v) To fnord something means to make it hard to understand for
outsiders or the public (e.g. by using jargon or messy reasoning).
This is a technique used by FOG in certain press releases, making
stuff official even if they don't want people to know about
it.
- Frazer's Cat
- Concordat standing joke about new and little tested
technologies: "Is it tested?" "Sure, on three rats and Frazer's
cat."
- Freeware
- Member of the TU who think the new technologies should be
spread freely to anybody interested in them.
- Haram zadah
- Illegal product/bastard (Hindi). Biohacker slang for pirated or
modified organisms from the Indian gene pirates.
- Hobby paranoia
- Setting up better security "just in case".
- IOU
- I Owe You, the currency of services among participants on the
Market.
- Gargoyle
- A Brinist using heavy wearable equipment to watch or spy on
people.
- Keybearer
- Nickname for a cryptoanarchist or someone handling encryption
information.
- Knowledge laundering
- The act of "laundering" information and knowledge that has been
acquired through illegal means (such as reverse engineering or
underground research) into what looks like legit results.
- Latcho drom
- Used to wish a safe journey (from Romany)
- Lemming
- Someone living an unconsidered life. Lemmings go to school, get
a job, get a family, grow old and die, without ever changing the
script.
- Lingo
- Code language used in plain sight to cover Concordat
activities. For instance it can be used on a public BBS or virtual:
the involved parties seem to discuss the plot in a role-playing
game or soap opera, but they are using a predetermined code where
concepts are related to other things in reality. Somewhat limited
outside the net (on the net stego expert systems can write the
lingo, after setting up a code through an initial heavily encrypted
message) and cryptographically weak, but if handled well it doesn't
arouse too much suspicion.
- Market
- The underground Market of the Concordat.
- Noo
- Nootropic, a cognition-enhancing drug.
- Play money
- The state-owned currencies. The term is based on the fact that
it has nothing more than subjective value.
- Red Queen Principle
- "You have to run as fast as possible to stay in the same
place". If you don't develop, you will loose.
- Salarium
- Payment in goods instead of IOUs or play-money. From the latin
word, meaning payment in salt.
- Sifu
- Teacher in Mandarin Chinese. Used to describe a very active
teacher with many students.
- SOTA
- State Of The Art. Often used to distinguish between real
advances and the so called "hi-tech" used by most people. Many
Concordat members use it as an adjective: "This is a sota
device".
- Specter
- a Ghost commando
- Street Performer Protocol
- A way of funding public works (especially the release of new
nano- or biorecipes into the public domain) in the Concordate.
Someoune announce their willingness to do it and their price, and
people place IOUs in eschrow in a certain Originally based on an idea by
Kelsey and Schneier in the 90's.
- SubNet
- The distributed underground information network of the
Concordat.
- UA
- The Underground Academy, the distributed academy for suppressed
research supported by the Concordat.
- Wakina Sisi
- "People like us" in Swahili. Used by Concordat members to refer
to one another.
- Watson
- Genehacker.
- Wraith
- Ghost specialized in Information technology warfare
Bunk Slang
- Civ for priv
- Roughly, "civilization is for prigs". Bunker slogan.
- FFF
- Feeding, Fighting and Fucking - the three fundamentals from a
bunker perspective (even if boozing and shitting is sometimes
included).
- Glyk!
- Bunker exclamation, can mean everything.
- Razyoba
- Common term used by Bunkers for themselves; from the Russian
slang meaning "someone who fucks around" (slacker). Rather
offensive, which is exactly what the bunkers want.
- Priv
- Bunker slang for ordinary, prim people; a priv would never
consider having sex in public.
Activist Slang
- Demo
- Demonstration or other action (Global Autonomous Network)
- Enlighten
- Kill (Age of Mayhem)
- ZOG
- Zionist OverGovernment, the racist/right-wing "variant" of
FOG.
