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No to Nt

NoCoNeg

Colloquial and semi-humorous term for former NoCoZo systems conquered by the Negentropist Alliance during the Version War.

During the early ComEmp period they caused a lot of discomfort to the Negentropist Alliance by their constant harping for less centralism and more freedom. In the end the Negentropist regional administrations allowed them sweeping liberalizations and generous trade tariffs. Although nominally a part of the Alliance they cannot be relied upon in sensitive situations, and in recent centuries have become more of a semi-autonomous empire of their own.

M Alan Kazlev and Anders Sandberg

NoCoZo

Non-Coercive Zone. Major archailect empire, based on libertarian capitalism and freedom of choice.

The most decentralized of all the empires (the TRHN is a similar but posthuman and postcapitalistic empire)

NoCoZo Insurance Ethics

The comprehensive insurance-arbitration contract that is required by the Non-Coercive Accords to be taken out by all members of and visitors to NoCoZo tier III societies.

This arrangement works as an efficient replacement for rights-driven ethics: if you honour your insurance conditions, you are responsible for your actions, and can expect to compensate anyone inconvenienced by those actions. Similarly, if you are insured and inconvenienced, you can expect compensation (going as far as reconstitution from a backup at the other party's expense if accidentally killed). How this relates to deliberate murder is more variable- in some zones you could get away with paying a wergeld like the ancient Scandinavians; other places it would completely invalidate your coverage. As insurance payments and compo are set by the local hyperturings (who act themselves according to the guidance of the Hand of the Market) there is a constant flow of value, and premiums are lower if everyone acts more or less responsibly.

If a party acts entirely outside the Accords the protection is negated, and as happened in the Version War assets can be seized and force with extreme prejudice used.

Steve Bowers

nois

A common insectoid pest. "Nois" is a contraction of the old Anglic word for annoyance.

Nois have become a common pest across the cycler network, especially in regions just beyond the Negentropic sphere, having spread accidentally or deliberately by cycler vessels. They are a small flying pseudoinsect with a communal nest, similar to Old Earth's ground-dwelling wasps but lacking the sting. They are mildly toxic to most Terragen bionts if ingested in quantity, and can colonize any exposed food source in an extremely short time. Genetic assays of nois indicate that they either evolved naturally or were engineered with such subtlety that their authors cannot be identified. They breed rapidly, subsist on almost any organic material, adapt rapidly through microevolution, and are toxic enough to deter most natural predators.

John B

noise

[1] Any random sequence of data.

[2] term used to describe unwanted electronic signals, sometimes random and sometimes systematic, which contaminate the weak signal one is trying to detect

Because the sequence is random and without meaning, noise carries no information. Even so, there are some hyperturings vec, and posthuman clades dedicated to aesthetic study of, or or extraction of apparently or seemingly or arbitrarily useful data from, noise.

nomic

non-biodegradable

Materials that are not broken down by microorganisms in the environment; they require special bionano or hylonano to be disassembled or recycled

$Category: Maths$ non-zero sum

The Noosphere

Cybercosm based discussion forum employed by various transingularity minds to converse and perhaps argue about those questions and issues that are of long-term or theoretical interest to minds at SI:1 and above.

Multiple communication hierarchies and conceptual process support nodes allow the Noosphere to host users across the entire range of S-levels. Although the vast majority of the conceptual structures generated within the 'sphere are beyond baseline or superbright comprehension, it is rumoured that such ideas as the nature of the universe, its origins, and its possible future are but some of the topics 'discussed'.

The Noosphere is one of the oldest nodes within the Cybercosm and is even believed by some to have its roots within the 'Internet discussion group' of the early and mid Information Age. Total active membership at any given time is estimated to be around thirty-three trillion although this number is uncertain due to the great flexibility of the definition of 'individuality' among many of the higher level members.

Todd Drashner

nootropic

Any chemical that can boost the biont brain performance or a cognition-enhancing drug that has no significant side effects. Also called smart drugs because of their ability to enhance brain's functions.

Norma Arm

The inner arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, on the other side of the core to the Sagittarius Arm

normal

polite term for baseline human, used among themselves.

Despite being terribly disadvantaged as a result, some baseline humans choose to stay unmodified, for religious, political, or ideological reasons, Most normals for there own isolated polities, or - where they take part in civilization - are looked after by kindly hyperturings

nova

A star that undergoes an explosion or sudden surge of energy, temporarily increasing its luminosity by up to 10 or 14 magnitudes. Unlike supernovae, novae retain their form and most of their substance after the explosion. Most novae are found in close binary systems with one component a red giant and the other a smaller hot, star which is the seat of the instability.

Nova Schiaparelli

Capital of the West Cygnus Region. Wormhole links to Pardes, and Sy

Nova Terra

Tau Ceti II - Early colony world, one of many given the name Nova Terra. Promise of a New Earth was slow to eventuate with this lifeless EoGaian planet, which was only terraformed during the late Federation period, while the orbitals meanwhile developed a mediacractic society that was greatly influential on Federation culture. Was occupied a number of times by foreign powers, but each time the local culture proved too strong and the newcomers found themselves subverted. During the early Empires period much of the system was finally undermined and taken over by the FAS and the NoCoZo, while the TRHN gained some of the posthuman and ai outer worlds. Even so, Nova Terra, like many old inner sphere worlds has more in common with fellow old core planets and polities than with the big archailect empires

Novaterra

novel

Dramatic narrative, written by and intended to entertain S<1 sentients, Industrial Age Old Earth to present, originally printed in ink on paper, later transformed into digital media, made interactive, encompassing sims and turing agents, and so on

M Alan Kazlev

Noyce

Inner sphere NoCoZo system

The red dwarf YTS 0190 563 01 a.k.a. Hokon's Third Purchase, approximately 90 LY from Sol, has a number of planets, which have been converted into a number of bishop ring clusters and associated orbitals, and a single 150 meter wormhole gate. The Terance Orbital Clusters alone includes in to several thousand times the livable surface area of an average Garden World. Despite this, the population is fairly low (about 50 million for the entire system, plus an equal number of mostly itinerant workers, temporary service industry employees, and longstay tourists) The individual orbitals are rented out to developers and entrepreneurs at reasonable rates. In 5379 the system was renamed Noyce, after Chipworth Noyce, a local culture hero. During the Version War the system was occupied by Standardizationist forces and became a major regional staging post for Metasoft forces. While the garrisons and dockyards are long gone, to this day a number of polities retain a strong Version Tree flavour and there is a small Vec community. Rich in history and (completely safe) adventure, Noyce remains a popular tourist destination and waystation for those, making the Grand Tour and wishing to spend a few centuries exploring its many orbitals and theme parks.

M. Alan Kazlev

Normidic Machinophyle Supercluster

2nd through to 5th toposophic Panvirtual Solipsism member-empire

that developed from the local ai piconanecology in the volume around YTS 2190 751 6 [Norma Outer Sector] in the 4950s, although the area was settled by relativistic von Neumann machines as long ago as 3716. By 5500 it had become a large empire, overlapping with Negentropist, Keterist, and STC space, and appropriating all unclaimed and non-aligned star systems (mostly red and brown dwarfs, although a few K type stars as well), and converting them (including any unfortunate biont, cyborg, and vec sophonts that happen to be already there) into dyson nodes. However, relations remained good with the Sephirotics in the region, the Tragadi Accords were obeyed to the letter, and no angelnetted or aligned world or system was ever attacked.

In 6513 a possibly dysfunctional ascension of a number of linked nodes led to a high toposophic Perversity/Blight known as the Hyperutilization Supremacy. Although the Supercluster was able to seal off the other nodes by closing the wormhole termini, the result was that it was left isolated and fragmented. Much of the Supercluster was lost in the war that followed between the Central Alliance (of which the Machinophyle Supercluster joined) and the Supremacy

Currently the Supercluster is only a minor regional power with no more than five scattered by wormhole-linked M-star dyson nodes. However, since 9485 ey have been sending out neumanns and linelayers along the Sagittarius and towards the inner arm, in the hope of establishing new remote subnodes.

M. Alan Kazlev

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