D
DEANIMALIZE: Replace our animal organs
and body parts with durable, pain-free non-flesh prostheses. [FM-2030]
DEATH FORWARD: automorphing
so fast and profoundly that individual continuity is lost. (In analogy
to fast forward) [Alexander Chislenko 1997]
DEATHISM: The set of beliefs and attitudes
which glorifies or accepts death and rejects or despises immortality.
DEEP ANARCHY: The view that "the
State" has no real existence; states can be abolished only by changing
beliefs and behavior. [Max More, 1989]
DEFLESH: To replace flesh with non-flesh.
[FM-2030]
DIAMONDOID: Like diamond; chemical structures
or systems (especially nanomachines
as envisioned by Eric K. Drexler) based on diamond derivatives or stiff
carbon bonds.
DIGITAL PSEUDONYM: basically,
a "crypto identity." A way for individuals to set up accounts
with various organizations without revealing more information than they
wish. Users may have several digital pseudonyms, some used only once,
some used over the course of many years. Ideally, the pseudonyms can
be linked only at the will of the holder. In the simplest form, a public
key can serve as a digital pseudonym and need not be linked to a physical
identity.
DISASSEMBLER: A system of nanomachines
able to take an object apart a few atoms at a time, while recording
its structure at the molecular level. This could be used for uploading,
copying objects (with an assembler),
a dissolving agent or a weapon. [K. Eric Drexler, Engines
of Creation, 1986]
DISASTERBATION: Idly fantasizing
about possible catastrophes (ecological collapse, full-blown totalitarianism)
without considering their likelihood or considering their possible solutions
and preventions. [David Krieger,
1993]
DISTRIBUTED INTELLIGENCE:
An intelligent entity which is distributed over a large volume (or inside
another system, like a computer network) with no distinct center. This
is the opposite to the strategy of Concentrated
intelligences. Distributed intelligences have much longer communications
lags, but are more flexible in their structure and can survive damage
to their parts.
DIVERGENT TRACK HYPOTHESIS:
Cultures tend to converge towards a few attractor states (for example
borganisms), while the attractor states
diverge from each other. A rival to the strong
convergence hypothesis [Nicholas Boström 1996, Predictions
from Philosophy?]
DIVERSITY_IQ: A basic measure of the
capacity to survive and prosper in the Age of Access. Diversity IQ is
built on the ability to move freely and tolerantly among people of various
races, cultures, backgrounds, and beliefs. [The 500-Year Delta,
Jim Taylor and Watts Wacker 1997]
DIVIDUALS: A copy of a personality surviving
in more than one body. Example: "Keith Henson wishes to become
a collection of such dividuals so that he-plural can explore the galaxy
in parallel." (See the Far Edge
Party) [Mark Plus, 1992]
DOOMSDAY
ARGUMENT : If humanity is assumed to grow exponentially until
it ends at some point in time ("doomsday"), then it is more
likely to find a randomly selected human near the end of history than
at the beginning. Hence, since we are alive today we can deduce that
we are close to the end of history and use Bayesian reasoning to estimate
the expected remaining time. The argument (which can be applied to many
other things, such as the remaining time the Earth is inhabitable) is
hotly debated, and involves many subtle assumptions of probability.
[The argument originated by Brandon Carter and was published by John
Leslie in The End of the World (Routledge 1996)] See A
Primer on the Doomsday Argument by Nick Bostrom.
DOWNLOAD:
To transfer an mind from one computational matrix to another, especially
a slower one. See Upload.
DRYWARE: An artificial part of a cyborg
(usage similar to hardware, software and wetware)
[Anton Sherwood 1995].
DUBIFIER: A word used to make a statement
uncertain or show the limits of its applicability ("The experimental
data appears to fit the model in the parameter range tested",
"I think so" etc). (Based on quantifier, something
that tells how much there is of anything) [Heath M Rezabek, ca 1992]
DYSON SPHERE: A shell built around
a star to collect as much energy as possible, originally proposed by
Freeman Dyson (although he admits to have borrowed the concept from
Olaf Stapledon's novel Star Maker (1937)). In the original proposal
the shell consists of many independent solar collectors and habitats
in separate orbits (also known as a Type I Dyson Sphere), but later
people have discussed rigid shells consisting of only one piece (called
a Type II Dyson Sphere). The latter construction is unfortunately both
unstable (since it will experience no net attraction of the star), requires
super-strong materials and have no internal gravity. The Dyson Sphere
is a classic example of mega-technology
and common in Science Fiction. See also The
Dyson Sphere FAQ.
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