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E

ECOCALYPSE: (from ecological and apocalypse) A projected ecological catastrophe which would destroy all life on Earth. [Mark Plus; August 1991]

ECTOGENESIS: In vitro reproduction; synthetic wombs.

EI: Emergent Intelligence. An intelligent system that gradually emerges from simpler systems, instead of being designed top down.

EMBRYOMEME: Suggestion of a new meme to be used in a group with a shared set of knowledge. Usualy made by somebody with an inflated ego trying to coin the phrase. [Max M Jan 1999]

EMULATION: An absolutely precise simulation of something, so exact that it is equivalent to the original (for example, many computers emulate obsolete computers to run their programs).

ENHANCED REALITY: A personalized view of reality, the result of filtering, translation and addition of new perceptions (such as annotations, information or virtual objects). Unlike VR (virtual reality), which is immersive and only deal with virtual objects, ER would improve interaction with real objects and situations (in addition to virtual objects). See Intelligent Information Filters and Enhanced Reality [Alexander Chislenko].

ENVIROCAPITALISM: The use of free markets to protect the environment.

EPHEMERALISTS: Persons who reject immortalist technology and values (the result of deathist thinking). [MM, 1990, from "Ephemeral", Robert A. Heinlein, 1958]

E-PRIME: E-Prime is English without the verb "to be" in its sense of "is of identity". It originated in the tradition of General Semantics, to avoid many of the pitfalls of natural languages which confuse the outside world and the observer. For a more detailed introduction, see E-Prime: English without the verb "to be".

ESCALATORLOGY: (derogatory) a fatuous belief in an endless evolutionary escalator exalting the human race. (refering to escathology, the study of final things, and especially the physical escathology of Frank J. Tipler). [Mary Midgley]

THE ETERNAL LIFE POSTULATE: The assumption that life, once it arises in the universe, lasts forever (primarily made by Frank J. Tipler in his Omega Point Theory).

EUPSYCHIA: A society specifically designed for improving the self- fulfillment and psychological health of all people. A culture or sub- culture made up of psychologically healthy or mature or self-actualizing people. A Eupsychian sub-culture is "decentralized, voluntary yet coordinated, productive, and with a powerful and effective code of ethics (which works)." (Maslow.) [Abraham Maslow, 1954]

EUTHENICS: Improving the current generation, as opposed to eugenics, which seeks to improve future generations [R.C.W. Ettinger, Man Into Superman, 1972].

EVOLUTURE: An organism produced through evolution; the antonym of creature. [Mark Plus, June 1991]

EVOLUTIONARILY STABLE STRATEGY (ESS): A strategy which is remains the most optimal even when there are a small number of individuals using other strategies in the population.

EXCONOMICS: The study of possible trans- and post-human economies.

EXES: Ex-humans, posthuman beings. [Hans Moravec, Mind Age 1995]

EXFORMATION: Exformation is useful and relevant information, not just data. [The original definition by Tor Nörrestranders was the information which has been abstracted away, and now is implicitly included in the message].

EXISTENTIAL TECHNOLOGY: (existech) A technological framework for self-determination and mastery over one's own destiny. [ Steve Mann, VibraVest/ThinkTank: Existential Technology of Synthetic Synesthesia for the Visually Challenged]

EXOPHOBIA: The fear of new, complex and different things; everything outside normal experience.

EXOSELF: Systems linked to the self in a cooperative way, extending the mind and the body. Especially used about the systems supporting an uploaded personality, providing information, virtual reality and monitoring. [Greg Egan, Permutation City]

EXTROPIA: A conception of evolving communities embodying values of Boundless Expansion, Self-Transformation, Dynamic Optimism, Intelligent Technology, and Spontaneous Order. May be instantiated in virtual cultural communities such as those on the Net, or in future actual communities such as Extropolis or Free Oceania. [T.O. Morrow, 1991]

EXTROPIAN: One who affirms the values and attitudes codified and expressed in the Extropian Principles. See also the Extropy Institute website.

EXTROPIATE: 1) Any drug that has extropic effects, including all cognition enhancing and life extending drugs. [David Krieger, December 1991] 2) a derogatory term for passively optimistic perversions of the extropian meme like "technology will make everything better". Extropiates makes believers passively wait for everything to get better instead of doing something about it (a kind of rapture of the future) [Gregory Houston Mar 1997]

EXTROPIC: Any action or process that promotes extropy.

EXTROPOLIS: A proposed Extropian community located in our solar system, probably at L-4 or L-5 orbits, or the Asteroid Belt. [Max More, 1991]

EXTROPY: A measure of intelligence, information, energy, life, experience, diversity, opportunity, and growth. The collection of forces which oppose entropy. (Also a extropian quarterly magazine, see the Extropy Home Page) [T.O. Morrow, 1988]


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Anders Sandberg / asa@nada.kth.se
2000-03-11