R
RAPTURE OF THE FUTURE: Naive
optimism that everything will be all right in the future and that future
technology can solve every concievable problem. [Tom Morrow]
RED GOO: Deliberately designed and released
destructive nanotechnology, as opposed
to accidentally created grey goo.
RED QUEEN PRINCIPLE: (after
Beyond the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carrol, where the Red Queen
points out "in this place it takes all the running you can do,
to keep in the same place.") In evolution the principle says that
for an evolutionary system, continuing development is needed just in
order to maintain its (relative) fitness. (See
the red queen principle in Principia
Cybernetica) [L. van Valen 1973]
RED QUEENED: to be outrun by evolution
or change (see the red queen principle).
[Damien Broderic, June 1997]
REMEMBRANCE AGENT: A software
agent that augments human memory by watching the current context (for
example what is written in an editor) and displays a list of documents
which may be relevant. This is a simple but workable form of intelligence
amplification, likely suited for wearable computers. (See
Remembrance Agent: A continuously running automated information retrieval
system) [Thad Starner 1995]
REVERSIBLE: A process that can occur
in both directions, i.e. A->B and B->A. Reversible processes do
not produce any entropy.
RIF:
A Rifkinite, or supporter of Jeremy Rifkin and his anti-genetic engineering,
anti-nanotech crusade; against any and all research or implementation
in these areas. [Glenn Grant, 1990]
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