(Last revision January 22, 2021)
Thanks is given to the multitude of sources I used that include dictionaries, encyclopedias, technical books, Wikipedia, etc., and for references and footnotes in the same. Many of these definitions are open to debate because the technical aspects surrounding them are changing so rapidly. In any event, the definitions are to help a wide swath of the public to understand the topic concerned, not as a definitive collection for technologists.
Actroid – a humanoid robot that looks very much like a real human.
Advanced humanoids – the term is applied to those in two stages. The initial one, in 2030-2035, in which they are moderately augmented and mix with humans, and 2035-2040, in which early advanced ones are generally accepted by humans, and the later part, when many are on par with humans.
Android – a humanoid robot or humanoid created as a synthetic organism designed to look and act as much as possible like a real person. The term popularly used for both males and female robots. The word has roots in androgynous, having the characteristics or nature of both male or female. Technically, an android is the male form. Gynoid is the female form. Droid is an abridgement of android.
Animaloid – a robot created as a synthetic organism designed to look and act as much as possible like a real animal.
Anthropocentric – regarding humankind as the central or most important element of existence, especially as opposed to God or animals. Considering humans and their existence as the most important and central fact about life.
Artificial Insemination – Injection of semen into the vagina or uterus other than by sexual intercourse.
Artificial Intelligence – (Definition 1) machinery with the ability to reason and solve problems. It also refers to the branch of computer science that includes the study and design of intelligence agents, the melding of humans, robots and machines, and aims to create intelligence of machines and robots.
Artificial Intelligence – (Definition 2. Oxford Dictionary) the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.
Automaton – a self-operated machine. A moving mechanical device made in imitation of a human being. A machine that operates on its own without the need for human control, or a person who acts like a machine.
Autonomous – capable of acting independently, without outside control. Autonomous machines can determine what actions to take without human direction.
Avatar – an image that represents you on the screen in an online game or chatroom or a person melding their mind and movements with a robot surrogate, or avatar.
Basic Humanoids – those in the basic stage of development. Also, the term used for androids because they have appearance, mobility, vision, and ability to defend themselves and not harm others.
Bio-android – used interchangeably with the term android.
Biological Engineering, also termed biotechnological engineering or bioengineering – an engineering discipline that combines methods and concepts in biology with those of computer sciences, mathematics, physics and chemistry to solve real world life sciences problems by using the engineer’s knowledge of complex artificial systems.
Bionics – application of biological method and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology. It also has come to include merging organism and machine, also referred to as a cybernetic organism, bionic person, or cyborg.
Bionic brains – artificial brain.
Biorobot – biologically inspired robot.
Biorobotics – the field focused on the construction of biologically inspired or biometric robots.
Bot – a device or piece of software that can execute commands, reply to messages, or perform routine tasks, as online searches, either automatically or with minimal human intervention.
Biotechnology (biotech) – use of living systems and organisms to develop or make useful products. Additionally, it is any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use.
Blastocyst – a structure formed in early development of mammals.
Blastocyte – an undifferentiated embryonic cell.
Brain Emulation (see Whole brain emulation).
Chatbot – computer program that can simulate human conversation. Examples include personal assistants such as Siri and chatbots that answer customers’ questions on company websites.
Chimera – single organism composed of cells with distinct genotypes. In animals, this means an individual derived from two or more zygotes, which can include possessing blood cells of different blood types, subtle variations in form (phenotype) and, if the zygotes were of differing sexes, then even the possession of both female and male sex organs.
Cisgenic – the resulting organism when genetic material from the same species, or a species that can naturally breed with the host, is used.
Cloning – the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects, plants, or animals reproduce asexually.
Cobot – or co-robot (from collaborative robot) is a robot intended to physically interact with humans in a shared workspace. The term is also used for humanoids that work hand in hand with humans.
Cybernetic human – incorrect usage as a synonym for a humanoid.
Cybernetic organism – commonly known a cyborg, it is essentially the transfer of technology between engineered forms and life forms.
Cyborg – an organism that has enhanced abilities due to augmentations and enhancements, particularly mechanical parts. A stricter definition is enhancing normal capabilities. The general use is for physical attachments within or on humans. For example, a human fitted with prosthetic leg, mechanical parts in knee surgery, pace makers, and hearing aids. In science fiction, a creature that is part human, part machine.
Cyborgization – endowment within or on humans of a metaphysical or physical attachment.
Deep learning – process in which multilayered neural networks are exposed to vast amounts of data. On their own, the networks learn to analyze the data and draw conclusions.
DNA – a molecule composed of two chains that coil around each other to form a double helix carrying the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning, and reproduction of all known living organisms and many viruses.
Droid – abridgement of android.
Embryo transfer – a step in the process of assisted reproduction in which embryos are placed into the uterus of a female with the intent to establish a pregnancy.
Enhanced humans – see Human enhancement.
Existential Risk – a risk that cannot be undone that poses permanent large negative consequences to humanity.
Exoskeleton – an outer framework worn by a person that may be powered to assist the wearer in boosting strength and endurance. A rigid external covering for the body in some invertebrate animals, especially arthropods.
Expert systems – computers that store vast amounts of information about a specific field, such as business medicine. Expert systems are also programmed with detailed rules about how to process the data.
Extropianism – a philosophy of or belief in an evolving framework of values and standards for continually improving the human condition.
Facultative – In biology, it means organisms that can live with another organism, but do not have to. In contrast, some organisms are obligate, meaning they depend on another for survival.
Gamete – a haploid (term used when a cell has half the usual number of chromosomes) cell that fuses with another haploid cell during fertilization (conception) in organisms that sexually reproduce.
Genetic engineering (GE) – also called gene modification, it is the direct manipulation of an organism using biotechnology methods to alter the genetic makeup of an organism.
Genoid – the female form of an android. Technically, android is the male form.
Genetically modified organism (GMO) – an organism generated through genetic engineering.
Genomics – the field within the discipline of genetics that focuses on determination and analysis of the structure of genomes (the complete set of DNA within a single cell of an organism such as humans). It also includes efforts to determine the entire DNA sequence of organisms and to map them.
Hominoids – a primate of a group that includes humans, their fossil ancestors, and the anthropoid apes.
Homo sapiens – the kind of species of human being that exists now.
Humans – member of the species Homo sapiens; a human being, especially a person as distinguished from an animal or (in science fiction) an alien. Humans are multicellular organisms.
Human enhancement – attempts to temporarily or permanently overcome current limitations of the human body by the use of technological means to select or alter human characteristics and capacities whether or not the alterations result in bringing about characteristics and capacities that lie beyond the existing human range.
Humanoid – a robot based on the general structure of a human. Also, the term generally used in place of android or humanoid robot in an effort to humanize the mechanical being and make it more acceptable, and in many cases, loveable. In science fiction, the term humanoid is most commonly used to refer to alien beings with a body plan that is generally like that of a human, including upright stance and bipedalism.
Humanoid robot – a mechanical or artificial device more robot than humanoid in the basic stages leading to the advanced humanoid stage.
Humanoids, Advanced – see Advanced humanoids.
Humanoids, Basic – see Basic humanoids.
Humanoids, radically enhanced – see Radically Enhanced Humanoids
Humanity+ – Humanity Plus is an international organization derived from rebranding to project a more humane image from The World Transhumanist Association (WTA), which advocates the ethical use of emerging technologies to enhance human capacities.
Humanoidization – the process of developing robots through symbiosis with humans to the extent advanced humanoids are common and on par with humans.
Humanoidization, Radical – the process of humanoids attaining such radically advanced capacities that they would no longer be unambiguously human by our current standards.
In vitro fertilization – the process of fertilization by extracting eggs, retrieving a sperm sample, and then manually combining an egg and sperm in a laboratory dish. The embryo(s) is then transferred to the uterus.
Intelligence – Following are uses of this term connected with superintelligence284
Friendly AI – superintelligence whose goals are aligned with ours. Alternative: friendly artificial intelligence (also friendly AI or FAI) is a hypothetical artificial general intelligence (AGI) that would have a positive (benign) effect on humanity. It is a part of the ethics of artificial intelligence and is closely related to machine ethics.
Whereas machine ethics is concerned with how an artificially intelligent agent should behave, friendly artificial intelligence research is focused on how to practically bring about this behaviour and ensuring it is adequately constrained.
Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) – the ability to accomplish any cognitive task at least as well as humans. Alternative: the hypothetical intelligence of a machine that has the capacity to understand or learn any intellectual task that a human being can.
General Intelligence – ability to accomplish virtually any goal, including learning.
Intelligence – the ability to accomplish complex goals.
Intelligence explosion – recursive self-improvement rapidly leading to superintelligence.
Narrow Intelligence – the ability to accomplish a narrow set of goals, e.g., play chess or drive a car.
Singularity – intelligence explosion.
Strong AI – AGI.
Superintelligence – general intelligence far beyond human level.
Synthetic intelligence – an alternative term for artificial intelligence which emphasizes that the intelligence of machines need not be an imitation or in any way artificial; it can be a genuine form of intelligence.
Universal intelligence – ability to acquire general intelligence given access to data and resources.
Knockout organism – the result when genetic material is removed from the target organism. Knockouts are used to study gene function, usually by investigating the effect of gene loss.
Law of Accelerating Returns – theory by Ray Kurzweil that electronic development, such as improvement in the speed, memory, and power of computers, proceeds at a rate that is continuously doubling.
Life – a principle or force that is considered to underlie the distinctive quality of animate beings, a process that can retain its complexity and replicate.
Machine ethics – the concern with how an artificially intelligent agent should behave. See also: Friendly AI.
Mind control – originally known as brain washing or thought control, it is increasingly being researched a way to manipulate or subvert an individual’s thinking, behavior, emotions or decision by outside sources. The most prevalent and recognized form of mind control is through deep brain stimulation by drilling holes in the brain and inserting powerful electrodes to treat a wide range of disorders. Another form termed mind control is a technique that allows humans to interact with their surroundings through so-called avatars.
Nanobots – tiny robots made of DNA that can walk, pivot, and even work with microscopic forklifts.
Nanotechnology – the production and use of machines that are only slightly larger than atoms and molecules. Some researchers believe AI will combine with nanotechnology to transform medicine and other disciplines.
Neural nets – computer systems that loosely mimic the workings of the human brain.
Neuroscience – science of the nervous system, traditionally seen as a branch of biology, which now covers a multitude of other fields and is an integral part of Artificial Intelligence.
Nucleotide – the basic structural unit of nucleic acids such as DNA
Obligate – In biology, some organisms are obligate, meaning they depend on another for survival. Others are termed facultative, meaning they can live with another organism, but do not have to.
Organism – a living thing, it is the smallest contiguous unit of life.
Pharmacogenomics – studies of how a person’s genetic makeup affects his or her body’s response to drugs.
Pharming – a combination of farming and pharmaceutical refers to the use of genetic engineering to insert genes into host animals or plants that would otherwise not express those genes, thus creating a genetically modified organism (GMO).
Plutocracy – formally, government by the wealthy. In more general parlance, it is any form of government in which the wealthy exercise the preponderance of power, whether it is direct or indirect.
Plutocrat – a person who is powerful because of their wealth.
Posthuman – possible future beings whose basic capacities so radically exceed those of present humans, as to be no longer unambiguously human by our current standards.
Posthuman condition – state following enhancement so extreme some individuals would no longer be humans by our current standards and could choose to overcome humans, leaving at most, a tiny fraction of all humans to enjoy the benefits of posthumanity.
Posthumanoid condition – state following radical humanoidization in which some humanoids would no longer be on par with humans by our current standards and choose to overcome humans leaving at most a tiny fraction of all humans to enjoy the benefits of humanity as they know it and/or a posthuman condition.
Posthumanism – a term not used by transhumanists, but sometimes incorrectly used as a synonym for transhumanism.
Posthumanity – the result from creation of superintelligence that, while it may not entail the extinction of literally all intelligent life, it nevertheless constitutes an existential risk because the future that would result would be one in which a great part of humanity’s potential had been permanently destroyed.
Posthumanoid – possible future beings whose basic capacities so radically exceed those of advanced humanoids, as to be no longer unambiguously humanoids by our current standards.
Post-singularity – the point beyond which there is no distinction between human and machine.
Radically enhanced humans – those with advanced capacities that they would no longer be unambiguously human by our current standards.
Radically enhanced humanoids – those in the radically advanced stage of development or beyond with such radically advanced capacities that they exceed those of present humans. At that point, advanced humanoids would no longer be unambiguously human by our current standards.
Recombinant DNA (rDNA) – molecules that are DNA sequences derived by molecular cloning methods that create new DNA sequences that would not otherwise be found in the genome.
Robot – a mechanical or artificial device primarily guided by a computer program or some electronic method.
Robot, Advanced – robots accepted by humans for their workplace and society because they have appearance, mobility, and other useful attributes.
Robot, Autonomous – stand-alone system, complete with its own computer termed the controller. The most advanced example is the smart robot.
Robots, Basic – the term I use for robots that have the most elemental attributes as machines. Synonym for humanoid robot.
Robots, Fourth Generation – in the research and development phase that includes artificial intelligence, self-replication, self-assembly, and nanoscale size.
Robot, Smart – stand-alone robot, which has a built-in AI system that can learn from its environment and experience to build on those capabilities and knowledge.
Robots, Swarm – work in fleets with all members under the supervision of a single controller.
Robots, Telepresence – simulate the experience and some of the capabilities of being present. Examples are home monitoring, smart houses, remote business consultations, and many other possibilities.
Roboethics – the area of study concerned with what rules should be created for robots to ensure their ethical behavior and how to design ethical robots.
Roboethical standards – ones related to rights of robots and interactions with humans.
Robotics – the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots.
Robotoid – an artificial lifeform created through processes that are totally different from cloning or synthetics. Also, a small robot, child sized or smaller.
Robot fetishism – the fetishistic attraction to humanoid robots. It also refers to people acting like robots or dressed in robot costumes.
Sapience – the quality of being wise, or wisdom.
Sapient – a human of the species.
Sentient – capable of thinking and feeling; being aware of one’s existence.
Sexbots – humanoids developed for personal sexual satisfaction or as sex workers in commercial establishments.
Singularity – also known as technological singularity. See technological singularity.
Singularitarianism – a movement defined by the belief that a technological singularity—the creation of superintelligence—will likely happen in the near future, and that deliberate action ought to be taken to ensure that the singularity benefits humans.
Species – group of individuals that actually or potentially interbreed in nature and is the biggest gene pool possible under natural conditions.
Social robotics – study of how robots, humanoids and humans learn to relate to each other.
Somatic cells – any cell of a living organism other than the reproductive cells.
Sophont – An intelligent being; a being with a base reasoning capacity roughly equivalent to or greater than that of a human being. The word does not apply to machines unless they have true artificial intelligence, rather than mere processing capacity.
Superintelligence – Any intellect that greatly exceeds the cognitive performance of humans in virtually all domains of interest.
Symbiont – an organism living in a state of symbiosis or in a symbiotic relationship.
Symbiote – synonym for symbiont.
Symbiosis – commonly defined as a relationship between people, companies, etc. that is to the advantage of both. A generally accepted definition in biology is the living together of unlike organisms, which has been broadened to cover all species.
Synthetic Biology – an interdisciplinary branch of biology that combines disciplines such as biotechnology, evolutionary biology, molecular biology, systems biology, biophysics, computer engineering, and genetic engineering.
Technium – a network of different technologies all working together to support each other that operates as if it is a sentient being.
Technocentrism – a term that denotes a value system centered on technology and its ability to control and protect the environment.
Technocracy – a social or political system in which people with scientific knowledge have a lot of power; a sense of being governed primarily by technical experts; a meritocracy composed of those with power derived from scientific knowledge.
Technocrat – a term for a member of a powerful technical elite or someone who advocates the supremacy of technical experts; an expert in science, engineering, etc. who has a lot of power in politics and/or industry; those that have inordinate power and control through technology over society.
Technium – Kevin Kelly’s term for a network of different supporting technologies all working together to support each other that operates as if it is a sentient being.
Technological singularity – the theoretical emergence of superintelligence through technological means. A hypothetical moment when artificial intelligence, human biological enhancement, or brain-computer interfaces will have progressed to the point of a greater-than-human intelligence that will radically change civilization, and perhaps even human nature.
Technology – the collection of tools, including machinery, modifications, arrangements and procedures used by humans, defined by Kevin Kelly as anything the mind produces.
Technomancy – imaginary or fictional category of magical abilities that affect technology. Also, magical powers gained through the use of technology.
Techosexuals – devotees of robot fetishism.
Transgenic – the process when genetic material from an unrelated organism is added to the host organism.
Transhumanism from Version 2.1 of The Transhumanist FAQ – viewed as an extension of humanism, from which it is partially derived. Transhumanist’s emphasize that while humans and individuals’ matter, that by promoting rational thinking and rational means the human organism can be improved. They argue that technological means can be used beyond traditional humanistic methods to eventually enable humans to move beyond what some would think of as “human.”
Transhumanism, alternative – An ideology and movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of improving the human condition by overcoming fundamental human limitations that seek to guide us to a posthumanity condition.
Transhumanist – someone who advocates transhumanism.
Transhuman – intermediary form between the human and posthuman.
Triumvirate – In the past, referred to a group of three men responsible for public administration or civil authority. In the present, a triumvirate refers to a group of people representing three instruments of power: the technocracy, the plutocracy, and our national level government that while not a cabal, and not coordinated, collectively have the power to decide on superintelligence and radical humanoidization that can cause serious disruption to humankind, as we know it.
Turing test – a test performed to determine a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behavior. The basic concept behind the test is that if a human judge is engaged in a natural language conversation with a computer where he cannot reliably distinguish machine from human, the machine passes the test.
Virtual reality – a simulated environment that your senses perceive as real.
Whole brain emulation (WBE) – Mind upload or brain upload (sometimes called “mind copying” or “mind transfer”) is the hypothetical process of scanning the mental state (including long-term memory and “self”) of a particular brain substrate and copying it to a computer. The computer could then run a simulation model of the brain’s information processing. Then it responds in essentially the same way as the original brain (i.e., indistinguishable from the brain for all relevant purposes) and experiences having a conscious mind.
World Transhumanist Association (WTA) – founded in 1998 and focused on recognition of transhumanism as a legitimate subject of scientific inquiry and public policy. The WTA changed its name to “Humanity+” in 2008 as part of a rebranding to project a more favorable humane image. It launched H+ Magazine and in 2010, the magazine transitioned into a web-only publication.
Xenotransplantation – the process of removing living cells, tissues, or organs from one species and implanting the living cells, tissues, or organs in another species.
284 Taken from Max Tegmark, Life 3.0: Being Human in the Time of Artificial Intelligence (New York: Knopf, 2017), 39, and Stephanie Sammartino McPherson, Artificial Intelligence: Building Smarter Machines (Minneapolis: Twenty-first Century Books, 2018), 97.