ULTRA
A designation used by British Intelligence during World War II for highly classified intelligence, usually decrypted messages originally enciphered using the German Enigma machine
APPERCEPTION
Understanding a new experience by relating it to past experiences.
SCORCHED EARTH
A military strategy based on the wanton destroy of any and all infrastructure in order to render it useless to an enemy.
CIPHER
An algorithm for accurately and repeatedly encoding and decoding data or language. From the Arabic 'sifr,' meaning zero. It's hypothesized the word came to be used in this fashion as the concept of zero was cryptic and far fetched in medieval Europe.
BEHAVIORAL CUSP
A new behavior that has significant consequences because it exposes an organism to new environments or interactions.
FACT-VALUE DISTINCTION
The difference between what we believe to be true and what we believe to be right.
PRINCIPLE OF SUFFICIENT REASON
The doctrine that there is an adequate explanation for the presence and attributes of everything that exists.
EXISTENCE THEOREM
In mathematics, the statement that an object exists, even if the means of finding the object are unknown.
CARRIER SIGNAL
A consistent stream of data designed to contain a message by being modulated against the message data over the course of a transmission.
MIRROR NEURON
A neuron that responds similarly when an animal acts or watches another animal performing the same action.
TABULA RASA
“Blank slate” in Latin. The mind in its originally clear state before being affected by impressions or experiences.
CALL AND RESPONSE
In music, a set of two tonal phrases in a piece of music. The second phrase is a musical response to the first.
POLYTELY
From Greek, meaning “many goals,” when solving a complicated problem involves a number of concurrent objectives.
COLLECTIVE INTENTIONALITY
When a group of people directs their thoughts or actions towards the same object or goal.
REPRESENTATIVE REALISM
The theory that our observations of the external world are our interpretations, rather than direct perceptions.
DISTRIBUTED KNOWLEDGE
When the partial knowledge of a individuals in a group results in a collective and complete awareness.
STIGMERGY
A spontaneous system of coordination between organisms, where residual traces left by one lead to the ensuing action of another.
HOLISM
The theory that systems in nature should be seen as interacting wholes that are greater than the sum of their individual parts.
ANIMA MUNDI
From Latin, the “World Soul,” the idea that all living beings in our world are connected by a common spirit.