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Ex to Ez

Exa Energy

Interplanetary Era energy megacorporation.

Formed by the merger of General Electric and Bernal Space Power Systems in 243. Exa was during the period 250-500 one of the major energy suppliers to cislunar space, employing orbital solar collectors, fusion, beamed power and antimatter for various energy needs. Although less dependent on outer system He3 as other Orbital Alliance corporations, it generally supported the hardliners against the outer system (possibly because increased tensions would increase its own profit margin). It was one of the earliest employers of micrograv tweaks, although maintenance work on their solar energy and antimatter farms was generally regarded as the lowest form of grunt work. The corporation prospered until the nanoswarms of the 2490's, which despite sensible precautions managed to infiltrate and digest more and more of the orbital systems for raw material.

text and logo by Anders Sandberg

excited state

The state of an atom or molecule when not all electrons are in the lowest possible levels. Compare with ground state.

exdependent

A being that has achieved practical total autonomy, able to survive entirely on its own. Sometimes called facultative anagorobe.

The Executioners of Gesima

The legal system of Gesima (MPA; Kiyoshi Sector) has taken an unusual approach to death penalty. As the governing ideology (Ruritic Micromasm) regards state-run executions as unacceptable, they instead create executioner potential-citizens. These potential-citizens are individually constructed vecs with commensurable Turing-level intelligence as the victim, well designed to carry out the execution. They are themselves not citizens and have no rights before the execution, but if they succeed in executing the victim they will inherit their citizenship and estate. On the other hand, the creation and release of the executioner is regarded as the carrying out of the sentence from a legal point of view, so if the victim successfully stops the executioner they are regarded as free. Destroying the executioner is in itself not a crime, as it is a non-citizen and the act is done in self-defence.

In certain cases multiple execution sentences are made. In this case the likelihood of survival is much slimmer, but the successful executioner that takes on the legal identity of the victim must now also defend against the remaining executioners.

Throughout the history of Gesima several ex-executioners have risen to prominence. The most famous is Tristorp Jesolv (9677-9708- ). After executing its original for metamurder it continued his original political and financial career. In addition, the vec Jesolv has produced its own highly acclaimed visual poetry.

Anders Sandberg

existech

(existential technology) Any technological framework for self-determination and mastery over one's own destiny.

Transhumanist Terminology

existentialism

personal existentialism: meaning has to be created through individual actions

religious existentialism - God's action is limited to the realm of personal life, which is contrasted with the lawful and objective realm of nature; personal involvement, decision, and commitment are essential characteristics of the religious life

Ex nihilo

Creation from nothing; in contrast to creation of order from chaos. A common element in the theology of many monotheistic memeticities.

exoatmospheric

Vehicle or tweaked life-form capable of operating both in a vacuum and in an atmosphere. May be planetary- or space-based.

exoatmospheric fighter

A small planet- ship- or orbital- based hybrid air- and space-craft, usually short- to very short range and armed with lasers and automatic cannon. Crew may include one or two bionts and several dedicated ai, or the whole vessel may be ai controlled. Propulsion is via jet or nanobank turbine for dense or slow atmospheric flight, ramjet or scramjet for hypersonic flight, and chemical, fusion or amat rocket for vacuum propulsion.

Exobiology

Also Xenobiology, Astrobiology. During the atomic, information and interplanetary periods this was the speculative study of biology, biochemistry, and life forms on worlds other than Earth (at that time no non-terragen life was known). The termed was coined by atomic age scientist Carl Sagan. It is now very rarely used.

Exopaleontology

Study of ancient (usually extinct) non-terragen biological life forms, whether sapient ("aliens") or non-sapient. The Hamilton Institute of Exopaleontology is one of a number of important centers of exopaleontological study and relativistic fieldwork.

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.

Transhumanist Terminology

exoskeleton

[1] external skeleton, any tough, structural body armor made of chitin or analogous material, for muscle attachment, usually (e.g. Arthropods, Limners) segmented.

[2] one-person protective armour, usually powered and sealed, used for exploration in hostile planetary environments, or as protection from kinetic and beam weapons by infantry or other military or paramilitary combatants.

[3] strong, flexible or inflexible, epidermal modification or augment, favoured by a number of tweak and bioborg clades, whether for protection, environmental adaptation, peer status, or (more rarely) intimidation (the non-offensive wearable augment is the exoskeleton bodysuit).

exosphere

the outermost layer of a planetary (usually a Gaian Type) atmosphere. On Earth or an Earth-comparable Garden World, the exosphere extends from about 650 to 1,300 km. The lower boundary of the exosphere is called the critical level of escape, where atmospheric pressure is very low (the gas atoms are very widely spaced) and the temperature is very low.

exosphere

the edge of the Technosphere, where there has been only minor penetration and colonisation by SI:1 and higher powers; the astrographical and toposophical border or membrane between terragen and non-terragen space (whether idea-space, virchspace, or physical space).

Exotic Biochemistry, Alien

Although Non-Terragen biochemistries are rarer than terrestrial ecologies, they are not uncommon. Cold ammonia or methane ecologies are rarer, while weird things like chlorine, neutron star, free space or plasma ecologies are very rare. See Xenobiochemistry.

Anders Sandberg

exotic atoms

A term used for matter that is not composed of the usual protons, neutrons and electrons but that forms analogous structures. The constituent particles of monopolium are an example. Some such "atoms" may be said to form "molecules," or analogues of metals, and may be used in the construction of such things as Banks Orbitals.

Stephen Inniss

exotic matter

In the strictest sense, the "negative" matter used to create the ANEC-violating conditions required for wormhole construction.
In popular usage any highly unusual "unnatural" matter that is not composed of protons, neutrons, and electrons. This includes such substances as quarkonium, monopolium, and other more advanced constructs up to and including molecules or macroscale structures. In some cases the methods by which these materials are produced and stabilized were invented by transapients; in some cases modosophonts can reproduce those methods, and in other cases they cannot.

Stephen Inniss

exo-toxic

Dangerous to others. Highly exo-toxic memes promote the destruction of persons other than their hosts, particularly those who are carriers of rival memes. Historical examples include Nazism, the Inquisition, and the Geminga Orthodoxy. (See also meme-allergy.)

expenditure switching

Policies designed to switch spending and investment from overseas goods to domestic goods. Popular in small, isolationist or semi-isolationist, or disenfranchised polities.

experiants

Beings who enjoy or thrive on the experiences of other beings.

While VR addictions are common among many human clades true experiancy is mainly a phenomenon among virtual entities and AIs. In many cases experiants spend sizable amounts of money and effort to experience unusual, complex or especially authentic experiences from other beings. Some AIs almost literally eat experiences, using biont experiences as the basis for information distillation, mental trade and heuristics discovery that supplies them with the necessary complexity flow. Some bionts sign experience production contracts (either individually or collectively) for the rights to their experiences in raw or processed form to various virtual entities and corporations.

Anders Sandberg

Expert System

Not an AI, but a program that contains the knowledge of an ai or a biont, and is hence invaluable in the operation of ultratech, the solving of difficult problems, consulting for advice, etc. Expert Systems basically tend to have a high intelligence/skill level, but a very low turing number. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to create expert systems with high intelligence levels, as pushing the skill factor up automatically raises the turing factor as well.

Exploding Cockroach

a gengineered insect, with an altered biochemistry. It is modified to produce an internal deposit of some explosive (most commonly Penthyle, since it is a naturally existing chemical in most biosystems).

The explosive charge can be set of by an encoded signal or an external stimuli, such as proximity to magnetic fields, body heat and so on. It can also be wired to explode at a given time, or when stepped on.

The Cockroach is an effective tactical weapon, commonly deployed against power-, and data conduits. It can also be used successfully against unarmoured personnel, locked doors and the fuel tanks of a vehicle. The exploding cockroach is sometimes regarded as a variety of synsect.

David Hallberg

Explorer Class

Long range, rugged and reliable self-repairing amat-powered exploration vessel used during the First Federation period. Some remained in service as late as the Empires age, and even today Explorer Class vessels little different from the original design are popular among many minor and independent clades, especially in the outer volumes.

exploration, age of (Old Earth)

Humanity spread out over the entire land surface of Old Earth, mostly on foot and by boat. However there was little communication between the various parts of the world before the so-called exploration age, and accurate information was difficult to come by. A limited amount of exploration occurred in the Classical Age of the Greek and Roman Empires, but after the Medieval period deliberate exploration began in earnest. The Chinese Empire explored parts of the Pacific and Indian Ocean while the European Nations began a wide-ranging exploration effort, discovering the Americas, circumnavigating the globe and eventually mapping the whole planet.

Exploration, Interstellar

Interstellar Exploration, especially by the Sephirotics, involves a number of progressive stages. The following is a common approach, but by no means the only one used

Argus array surveys an area of space, noting areas of interest.
Expendable exploration swarms do flybys of the not so interesting areas and report back standard system data and also if they find anything interesting the Array might have missed.
Probeships carrying ais and uploads visit and perform thorough surveys of interesting areas/systems.
Colonization vessels show up and begin setting up the necessities of life (power collectors, amat factories, space habitats, etc.)

Todd Drashner

exports

Goods, services, knowledge, creativity, and/or capital assets sold abroad.

extinction event

extinction of a lesser or greater number of biological or alife species, usually as a result of environmental trauma, deliberate extermination or assimilation (e.g. by a blight or swarm) or inability to compete with rival organisms.

See also mass extinction

extractive reserve

an area in an otherwise Caretaker-protected ecological, geological, or astronomical area in which sentients are allowed to harvest crops and resources, tap energy, or undertake limited mining operations.

extreme contests

Competitions and contests that often involve great risk to the participants; unusually popular, especially among some bionts. Proof of recent backup/copy and legal waver is standard on most civilized worlds

A few popular first examples are

the decannual "Venus 2000" nuclear fission ramjet race. First race on Helstrom I (non-terraformed euvenusian subtype, Inner Sphere), 2000 a.t.
Pufferfish Swallowing Contest (first held 5,400, must use authentic terragen baseline pufferfish, banned in many polities on grounds of cruelty (pufferfish sentient rights))
Annual Nude Orbital Reentry Sweepstakes (first held at Dyako (NoCoZo) 3455)
1G ornithopter relay (Majonica, MPA)

Other contests, whilst not involving risk, are still sometimes included, such as the RetroPrim Tall Ships Races on Pacifica, only pre-industrial (Terragen pre-19th century c.e.) reconstructions of 18th or 19th century sailing vessels, contestants must only have or use baseline hu-equivalent bodies, no bioware, cyberware, or nanoware that might give contests unfair advantage (unusual strength and endurance, ultra-rapid healing etc) allowed. (Oro Mistral has a splice and provolve version).

One should also mention the DaVinci Games - Must be a working replica of one of the sketchbook designs of that preeminent genius! (Note - the animate Sistine diorama has been outlawed since the third such event, when the hypersapient God icon went 'off the deep end')

Eric Lo, John B, Steve Bowers, and M.Alan Kazlev

Extreme Population I

Short-lived bright, metal-rich stars, representing the most extreme form of population I

Stars of this type are found mainly in the spiral arms of the Galaxy, with generally circular orbits around the galactic core. about the central nucleus. Extreme population I stars are young with age ranges of less than 100 million, and often only around 20 to 50 million years. They have average metallicities of about 3%. Spectral classes O, B1 and B2 as well as including T Tauri stars and certain supergiants and high mass Cepheid variables those with periods in excess of 10 to 13 metric days are included here.

Extreme Population II

Very old metal-poor stars, representing the most extreme form of population II

These are the oldest stars with ages of around 10 to 14 billion years. Their metallicity is very low, usually less than 0.8%, and they are found mainly in highly elliptical orbits in the galactic halo, particularly in globular clusters. They are mostly low mass stars that have left the main sequence, although RR Lyrae variables and somewhat more massive red giants are also included here.

extremophile

a rather chauvinistic term for any biological organism, whether terragen or xenobiont, natural or tweaked, that requires extreme (non-Earth like) environments for growth or metabolism; e.g. high temperature, acidity, pressure, radiation, toxic compounds, vacuum or near-vacuum, etc. There are extremophile sophont clades in the Terragen Sphere which inhabit cold temperature worlds, high temperature worlds, hi-radiation worlds, vacuum environments, and other environments which would would be fatal to nearbaseline humans.

extropia

[1] Interlinked Information to First Federation age evolving communities embodying extropian values. Included both virtual cultural communities and actual communities in several orbital free zones

[2] Belt habitat of Extropist sect, interplanetary to interplanetary nanotech age.

extropian

ExtropismInformation Age transhumanist memeticity; founded by Max More and based the Extropian Principles. A heavily modified form was later adopted by and incorporated into the Negentropy Alliance

extropian : one who affirms the values and attitudes codified and expressed in the Extropian Principles.

Transhumanist Terminology

Extropian Principles

The five values of Boundless Expansion, Self-Transformation, Dynamic Optimism, Intelligent Technology, and Spontaneous Order, which form the basis of the extropian memeticity

Extropism

Interplanetary Age religion based on rigid application of Extropian Principles and worship of Max More as an avatar. Although the actual Max More turingrade upload and eir associated copies and ais vigorously denounced the movement, its leadership retained control through a selective isolation of the community in the Belt Habitat Extropia. The habitat, along with the few remaining members of the sect, were destroyed by nanoswarms in 542.

Extropolis

Extropian community located in Cis-Lunar orbit, late information to interplanetary period.

Transhumanist Terminology

extropy

A measure of intelligence, information, energy, life, experience, diversity, opportunity, and growth. The collection of forces which oppose entropy.

Transhumanist Terminology

Kingdom of Eyre

Tau Ceti II (Nova Terra) aquatic tweak kingdom.

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