AutomationUse of various control systems for operating equipmentMinimum human intervention is required to control many large facilities, such as this electrical generating station.Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines.
Capital accumulationDynamic that motivates pursuit of profit Capital accumulation is the dynamic that motivates the pursuit of profit, involving the investment of money or any financial asset with the goal of increasing the initial monetary value of said asset as a financial return whether in the form of profit, rent, interest, royalties or capital gains.
Molecular assemblerA molecular assembler, as defined by K. Eric Drexler, is a "proposed device able to guide chemical reactions by positioning reactive molecules with atomic precision". A molecular assembler is a molecular machine. Some biological molecules such as ribosomes fit this definition as biological machines. This is because they receive instructions from messenger RNA and then assemble specific sequences of amino acids to construct protein molecules.FuturistFuturists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is future studies or futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities about the future and how they can emerge from the present, whether that of human society in particular or of life on Earth in general.
ScarcityIn economics, scarcity refers to the basic fact of life that there exists only a finite amount of human and nonhuman resources which the best technical knowledge is capable of using to produce only limited maximum amounts of each economic good. If the conditions of scarcity did not exist and an "infinite amount of every good could be produced or human wants fully satisfied ... there would be no economic goods, i.e. goods that are relatively scarce..."Ken MacLeod
HumanismPhilosophical school of thoughtHumanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the agency, and the individual and social potential of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" has changed according to successive intellectual movements that have identified with it.
Self-replicating machineA self-replicating machine is a type of autonomous robot that is capable of reproducing itself autonomously using raw materials found in the environment, thus exhibiting self-replication in a way analogous to that found in nature.
EconomyAn economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the production, use, and management of resources.RationalismIn philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "the position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge", often in contrast to other possible sources of knowledge such as faith, tradition, or sensory experience. More formally, rationalism is defined as a methodology or a theory "in which the criterion of truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive".
Cory DoctorowCory Efram Doctorow (; born 17 July 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organisation, using some of its licences for his books. Some common themes of his work include digital rights management, file sharing, and post-scarcity economics.
Anarchist communismPolitical school of thoughtAnarchist communism is an anarchist school of thought that advocates a form of communism where society is organized through horizontal networks of voluntary associations. It calls for the abolition of hierarchies, as well as private property but retention of personal property and collectively owned items, goods, and services.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.