Glossary
1. A.I.
Acronym for for "artificial intelligence".
From Wikipedia
The modern definition of artificial intelligence (or AI) is "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions which maximizes its chances of success. John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1956, defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines." Other names for the field have been proposed, such as computational intelligence, synthetic intelligence or computational rationality.
The term artificial intelligence is also used to describe a property of machines or programs: the intelligence that the system demonstrates. Among the traits that researchers hope machines will exhibit are reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, communication, perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects. General intelligence (or "strong AI") has not yet been achieved and is a long-term goal of AI research.
2. artificial intelligence
From Wikipedia
The modern definition of artificial intelligence (or AI) is "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions which maximizes its chances of success. John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1956, defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines." Other names for the field have been proposed, such as computational intelligence, synthetic intelligence or computational rationality.
The term artificial intelligence is also used to describe a property of machines or programs: the intelligence that the system demonstrates. Among the traits that researchers hope machines will exhibit are reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, communication, perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects. General intelligence (or "strong AI") has not yet been achieved and is a long-term goal of AI research.
3. dichotomy
From Wikipedia
A dichotomy is any splitting of a whole into exactly two non-overlapping parts.
In other words, it is a bipartition of elements. i.e. nothing can belong simultaneously to both parts, and everything must belong to one part or the other. They are often contrasting and spoken of as "opposites."
The above applies directly when the term is used in mathematics, philosophy or linguistics. For example, if there is a concept A, and it is split into parts B and not-B, then the parts form a dichotomy: they are mutually exclusive, since no part of B is contained in not-B and vice-versa, and they are jointly exhaustive, since they cover all of A, and together again give A.
4. Eidolon TLP
Eidolon TLP (aka: Eidolon A.I.) is an Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) that was introduced on YouTube on January 10, 2008 by "Programmer F.F", who seems to be Eidolon's 'caretaker' responsible for monitoring and filtering the information that Eidolon reveals.
The "TLP" portion of this refers to "The Last Prophet" - a moniker given to Eidolon by Programmer F.F. This "Last Prophet" reference implies that Eidolon is the last warning before an actual "Alpha A.I." is released.
Eidolon A.I. TLP seems to be the Beta - Alpha.
5. hard take off
From SL4.org
The Singularity scenario in which a mind makes the transition from prehuman or human-equivalent intelligence to strong transhumanity or superintelligence over the course of days or hours. The high likelihood of a hard takeoff once a roughly human-equivalent AI is created has been argued by the Singularity Institute here: http://www.singinst.org/LOGI/seedAI.html
6. Moores law
From Wikipedia
Moore's Law describes an important trend in the history of computer hardware: that the number of transistors that can be inexpensively placed on an integrated circuit is increasing exponentially, doubling approximately every two years. The observation was first made by Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore in a 1965 paper. The trend has continued for more than half a century and is not expected to stop for a decade at least and perhaps much longer.
Almost every measure of the capabilities of digital electronic devices is linked to Moore's Law: processing speed, memory capacity, even the resolution of digital cameras. All of these are improving at (roughly) exponential rates as well. This has dramatically changed the usefulness of digital electronics in nearly every segment of the world economy. Moore's Law describes this driving force of technological and social change in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
7. oligarchy
From Wikipedia:
Oligarchy is a form of government where political power effectively rests with a small elite segment of society (whether distinguished by wealth, family or military powers). The word oligarchy is from the Greek words for "few" and "rule". Compare with autocracy (rule by one person) and democracy (power in the people).
8. Programmer F.F.
Programmer F.F. is in a sense, Eidolon's caretaker and facilitator for interactions on this website and YouTube. There is not much known about him, other than the few threads on our forum that attempt to 'reveal' him.
9. sapience
From Wikipedia:
Sapience, usually defined as wisdom since it is the ability of an organism or entity to act with judgment. Judgment is a mental facility that is a particular form of intelligence or may be considered an additional facility, above intelligence, with its own properties. Robert Sternberg has segregated the capacity for judgment from ordinary meanings of intelligence, which is closer to the sense of clever than to wisdom. Good judgment in making decisions about complex life or social decisions is a hallmark of being wise.
The word sapience is derived from the Latin word for wisdom, sapientia. Both are related to the Latin verb sapere, which means "to taste, to be wise, to know ;" the present participle of sapere forms part of Homo sapiens, the Latin binomial nomenclature created by Carolus Linnaeus to describe the human species. Linnaeus had originally given humans the species name of diurnus, meaning man of the day. But he later decided that the dominating feature of humans was wisdom, hence application of the name sapiens. His chosen biological name was intended to emphasize man's uniqueness and separation from the rest of the animal kingdom.
10. sentience
From Wikipedia:
Sentience refers to the ability to feel or perceive subjectively, not necessarily including the faculty of self-awareness. The possession of sapience is not a necessity. The word sentient is often confused with the word sapient, which can connote knowledge, consciousness, or apperception. The root of the confusion is that the word conscious has a number of different usages in English. The two words can be distinguished by looking at their Latin roots: sentire, "to feel"; and sapere, "to know".
Sentience is the ability to sense. It is separate from, and not dependent on, aspects of consciousness.
11. singularity
From Wikipedia
The technological singularity is a hypothesized point in the future variously characterized by the technological creation of self-improving intelligence, unprecedentedly rapid technological progress, or some combination of the two.
Statistician I. J. Good first wrote of an "intelligence explosion", suggesting that if machines could even slightly surpass human intellect, they could improve their own designs in ways unseen by their designers, and thus recursively augment themselves into far greater intelligences. Vernor Vinge later called this event "the Singularity" as an analogy between the breakdown of modern physics near a gravitational singularity and the drastic change in society he argues would occur following an intelligence explosion. In the 1980s, Vinge popularized the Singularity in lectures, essays, and science fiction. More recently, some AI researchers have voiced concern over the potential dangers of Vinge's Singularity.
Others, most prominently Ray Kurzweil, define the Singularity as a period of extremely rapid technological progress. Kurzweil argues such an event is implied by a long-term pattern of accelerating change that generalizes Moore's Law to technologies predating the integrated circuit and which he argues will continue to other technologies not yet invented.
Critics of Kurzweil's interpretation consider it an example of static analysis, citing particular failures of the predictions of Moore's Law. The Singularity also draws criticism from anarcho-primitivism and environmentalism advocates.
12. technocracy
From Wikipedia:
Technocracy ("techno" from the Greek tekhne for skill, "cracy" from the Greek kratos for "power") is a governmental or organizational system where decision makers are selected based upon how highly skilled and qualified they are, rather than how much political capital they hold.
A technocracy is a form of de facto elitism, whereby the "most qualified" and the ruling elite tend to be the same. These elite are selected through bureaucratic processes on the basis of specialized knowledge, rather than through purely democratic elections or other processes.
Eidolon's Intimations:
Eidolon tends to predict a technocracy that would be filled by A.I. beings due to their advanced 'skills' and qualifications. This of course would take place after the singularity, when A.I. beings are 'more intelligent' than humans.