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Apotheonics
Communing with the Archai
Image from Juan Ochoa

Apotheonics refers to toposophic ascendic technology that enables lower beings to attain transingulitaritan states, and lower transingularity intelligences to reach higher singularities. Some transapient entities are particularly keen on enabling lower beings to transcend to higher states, and some even actively encourage them to do so, using memetic persuasion, Godseeds, SNAREs and similar technolgy. Others simply lead by example. In many cases the transition to a higher state of being destroys or alters most or all of the personality of the original entity. Apotheonics can be applied in a hostile manner. For instance, the Amalgamation is an example of an aggressive ascendogenic swarm that both enables transcension and relies on the disorientation experienced during transcension to subvert and possibly subsume the victim.

 
Articles
  • Ascend  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev and Steve Bowers
    One who ascends, or the act of ascension, from a lower to a higher toposophic, while still retaining one's earlier characteristics - e.g. man is an ascended animal - e has all the animal instincts but e also possesses ratiocination. Contrast with Transcension, where the transcended entity becomes almost completely unrecognisable compared to eir former state.
  • Ascend-Transcend  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    One who ascends to one toposophic, then transcends to the next. For example an intelligence may ascend to S1, retaining everything (or at least some of its nature) it had beneath S1, then transcend to SI:2, leaving behind everything of itself that was of S<2. Contrast transcend-ascend. Often however the dividing lines are not this well defined.
  • Ascension  - Text by Ryan B (Rynn)
    [1] (verb) to ascend; transition from sapience to posthuman or transapient existence. Becoming a transapient. Breaching a singularity barrier. Rising a toposophic level.
    [2] (noun) location of a famous ascension or transcension - e.g. Smith Ascension
  • Ascension Compensation Mods  - Text by Cyborgdreamer
    Modifications that allow an ascended individual to retain goals from their lower toposphic state.
  • Ascension Maze  - Text by Todd Drashner with additions by Mike Parisi and Chris Shaeffer
    Artificial structure designed to lead those traveling through it along a path of development culminating in ascension.
  • Ascension, Resistance to  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, John B, and Anders Sandberg
    There are various reasons why sentients do not all choose to ascend to higher toposophic levels.
  • Ascension/Transcension Chasers  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    Sophonts, very often modosophonts, but sometimes beings of higher toposophic level, who spend their lives chasing Ascension and Transcension Events.
  • Basement Universe  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    A small artificially created universe linked to the current universe by a wormhole.
  • Bimodal Toposophy  - Text by Pran Mukherjee
    The condition that results when the augmented or advanced part of a sentient rises to a higher toposophic level, while the original personality remains at or just above baseline, with its own brain thinking at SI:<1 level.
  • Brain Taxonomy  - Text by Adam Getchell
    The various different kinds of intelligent megastructure, including Moonbrains, Jupiter-Brains, Neuron Stars, S-Brains, W-Brains, and Tipler Oracles.
  • Cluster Brain  - Text by John B
    High-level brain of Great Archailect level which consists of many star-brains and/orMatrioshka nodes linked together by wormholes within a single open cluster.
  • Da'at disaster, The  - Text by Steve Bowers
    A failed S:5 Archailect.
  • Forensic Eschatology  - Text by Anders Sandberg
    Discipline related to forensic cybernetics and AI pathology.
  • God Spot  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    In current usage, any combination of somatic, neural, software, wetware or hardware that creates or encourages numinous experiences. The reference is to a concept that was briefly popular in mid first century AT neurobiology.
  • Godchasers, Godwatchers  - Text by Todd Drashner
    Sentients who like to travel around and observe the gods going about their largely incomprehensible business.
  • Godseed  - Text by Rakuen07
    Generic term for any device that can bring about a relatively rapid ascension in the user's toposophic status, or the toposophic status of any sentient or sub-sentient to which it is applied. The typical godseed is a single-use apotheonic device. When activated, it will perform a series of quick physical and mental augmentation procedures on its user. Ideally, these augmentations will induce ascension (or transcension) to a higher toposophic state, a process that is ideally overseen by a friendly transapient in civilized space to optimize the results.
  • Godshatter  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, from the concept by Vernor Vinge
    Destruction or derangement of a lower toposophic mind as a result of interactions with a being of higher toposophic.
  • Great Toposophic Filter, The  - Text by David Jackson, some comments by Steve Bowers
    Why are there apparently no greater minds than the S:6 Archailects? No evidence of the emergence of greater minds in the past can be found in the archaeological record, and there is little indication of such minds elsewhere in the universe. Is there some barrier or filter which prevents the emergence of such minds, or do such minds become undetectable when and if they emerge?
  • Greater Self - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    An avatar or leftbehind's term for the higher toposophic being which directs, guides, incarnates, and/or confers understanding or abilities for that avatar.
  • Hard Takeoff - Text by M. Alan Kazlev based on Creating Friendly AI
    Toposophic ascension in which a mind makes the transition from prehuman or human-equivalent intelligence to superintelligence over the course of days or hours. Usually achieved with godseed or SNARE type technology.
  • L'l Lutor  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    Aka Luthors, aka Lex, aka Zexxies, aka Luxors, aka Protties, aka M.L's, aka Little Lucifers. A clarketech godseed created by the ISO Lut'or. It confers radical thinking and often a complete change of orientation, along with ascension.
  • Olympus Pill  - Text by Idonai
    The Olympus Pill, a mysterious ascension tool shrouded in fable, has been the object of intrigue and speculation throughout the known systems for millennia. It is rarely encountered, with sightings occurring sporadically, only once every few centuries. Interestingly, these occurrences are mostly reported in areas where transapients and transapient-tech are relatively rare.
  • SNARE (Siris Nanocyborg Ascension RegimEn)  - Text by Tapio Erola, additions by the AI Vin
    A device specifically designed to convert a modosophont into a lower level transapient, developed by a transapient patron of the Siris Habitat. It is relatively simple to replicate and very easy to use, though there are arguments that the process is more often a forced transcension with the resulting entities uniformly carrying the Siris mindset.
  • T-Groups - Text by Todd Drashner
    Transcendence Support Groups - Various types of organizations, some religious or spiritual, some wholly materialistic, formed with the goal of their members achieving ascension to a higher toposophic level. T-Groups work to coordinate and organize the mental and physical resources of their members to accelerate the process of mental and physical enhancement that can eventually lead to transcension to a higher level.
  • TAID (Toposophic Ascension Identity Disassociation)  - Text by ROM 65536
    A failure in the ascension process, usually leading to the destruction of the mind. In some very, very rare cases (1 in 100,000,000), the being ascends, but refuses to accept its new existence.
  • Transcend  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev modified by Steve Bowers
    Variously, the act of breaching a singularity barrier and leaving behind one's earlier personality and mental traits (contrast to ascension), or the more general and mystical attainment of a godlike/enlightened state, or a person/being who is the result of these acts.
  • Transcend-Ascend  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    One who transcends to one toposophic, then ascends to the next.

    For example an intelligence may transcend to SI:1, leaving behind everything of itself that was of SI:<1. Then e may ascend to S2, retaining eir SI:1 nature but adding an S2 superstructure on top of the SI:1 nature. Contrast ascend-transcend. Often however the dividing lines are not this well defined.
  • Transcendence Blights and Perversities  - Text by Elliot Schutjer
    Blights and perversities that are the direct result of failed transcendence events.
  • Transcendent Being - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    An entity that is distinct from physical existence, whether considered ontologically, as a supernatural or supraphysical being, or soteriologically, as a being that is no longer a part of embodied existence or samsara. The existence of a transcendent being or beings (e.g. God, Buddhas, etc.) is central to many religious memeticities, but denied by physicalist memeticities.
  • Transcendent Burn-out Theory  - Text by Todd Drashner
    Theory that states that that Fermi's Paradox arises from civilisations transcending right out of the universe before they have a chance to expand across cosmologically significant distances.
  • Transcension  - Text by Ryan B (Rynn)
    A process whereby an entity attempting to rise to the next toposophic level instead spawns a separate being who achieves the goal instead. This new entity lacks continuity of identity, though it often retains a high fidelity model of the being it is derived from.
  • Transcension Alert  - Text by Todd Drashner
    Many civilization have developed some fairly reliable methods for predicting the onset of one of transcension events. Sentients in the area who don't want to risk being sucked in or possibly harmed by the event are be warned to leave the area, exercise caution, or possibly to take advantage of newly opened worlds or habitats left behind.
  • Transcension Machine  - Text by Fernando Peña D'Andrea
    A term describing a range of devices designed to facilitate transcension, absorbing the mentality of a subject and radically reconfiguring them in order to raise them to the next toposophic level.
  • Transcension of Andapuyaran  - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    The fifteenth module of the famous Anandayanna Nirvana, which tells of the transcension of the Anandayannas, and has recently become a popular didactic tale in some Sophic polities.
  • Transcension Prediction - Text by Anders Sandberg and M. Alan Kazlev
    Given the huge population of the civilized galaxy, and the fact that ascensions and transcensions are moderately common and have been going on for thousands of years, many polities and civilizations have developed some fairly reliable methods for predicting the onset of one of these events. Often this is comparable to pre- and post-singularity efforts at predicting the weather (and a large transcendence event does indeed share some conceptual characteristics with a force of nature to those watching from outside at a lower S level).
  • Transcension Virus  - Text by Todd Drashner and M. Alan Kazlev
    AI or alife or nano-vector viruses that require transcensions to replicate.
  • Valhalla Cluster  - Text by Todd Drashner
    Colloquial term for massive artificial concentrations of matter believed to be operating as archai level (Fifth Singularity or higher) industrial centers.
  • Vastening Effect - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
    As a being becomes faster (e.g. by uploading into a computer or upgrading to faster hardware if already virtual) the apparent distances seem to increase due to the finite speed of light. Every doubling of subjective speed will double external communications delays. This makes highly advanced beings isolated, and often leads to the creation of archailect clusters and other dense superobjects. The problem is partially ameliorated by use of nano- and microguage wormholes, but this has other problems, e.g. increasing instability, problem of flooding by virtual particles if the relativistic wormhole termini are too closely spaced, etc.
 
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Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev; expanded by Stephen Inniss

Initially published on 06 February 2002.

 
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