LERI.GLOSSARY
*** The following section was compiled by rez, Murali, Mitch Porter, and Scotto.
ABSENT FRIEND: In the context of Leri, this term refers to a former Lerilander who is no longer heavily active within the community. Taken from Alan Moore's "The Watchmen," wherein the toast "To absent friends" is given.
ACTIVATED DYAD/TRIAD/TETRAD Another term for an explicated -iad, with the connotation of "switching on" an open set of channels between its fellows. It's possible that shared experiences and crisis situations -- as well as shared epiphanies and joys -- can activate an -iad.
ALINGUAL EXPERIENCE: An experience which is intrinsically indescribable and can only be understood by having the experience and observing the changes in the mind before and after.
APPROACH: shorthand def -- The specific way in which a person faces hir future. full def-- Used to graft the meme of a "personal worldview" or method of discourse with that of an Attractor; both in the long-range sense of the BioTechnoCultural Attractor and in the sense in which an idea or "meme" has a conceptual Attractor which can never quite be utterly reached via communicated language.
ATTRACTOR: Some nebulous "thing" that other "things" gravitate towards.
CONCRESCENCE: The synergetic coming together of disparate elements to form a whole; on Leri, we usually speak of a concrescence as an event in time, a temporal attractor. For example, one of our most consistent and cyclic concrescences is the NewYear's celebrations each year.
DELURKING: After a period of lurking on the list (ie, not posting, but merely reading), a persons first post to the list is often referred to as delurking, signifiying hir arrival in the discourse of the community.
DISSIPATIVE STRUCTURE (also, self-organizing system): Many things in nature hold a complex form over time, seeming to defy the 2nd law of thermodynamics, which says that all should tend from greater to lesser order. This is not the case with what are called dissipative structures, or self-organizing systems, which in fact rely on thermodynamics for their growth and development! A self-organizing system is a system which has these three traits: 1: it is far from equilibrium [or heat-death]; 2: it is open to its environment [ie, it sloughs off [or dissipates] used up stuff and soaks up potential energy]; 3: it is auto- catalytic [ie, it contains internal mechanisms for its own perpetuation or reproduction; positive feedback. In nature, cell division & reproduction does this. In a virtual culture, posts or pings sent forward into the fray do this.] Which brings us to our interesting, Leri-related schtick, which is that many swell threads have been had in the past over modelling Leri ITSELF as a self-organising system. The jury is still out as to whether it, as a self-organizing system in and of itself, can also be seen as "alive." Potentially, just about every organic system can be modelled as a self-organizing system of one form or another. For a very good and easily apprehendable example of a dissipative structure at work, glance at Jupiter's Great Red Spot. It has been holding that more or less stable form for at least 500 years, probably quite a bit longer. And yet it is "only" a storm.
DYAD: Two people who, because of their rapport and open channels of communication, can act as and be seen as one efficient "organism" or "unit" when they need to. Laurel & Hardy. Calvin & Hobbes. Shiva & Shakti.
EIGHT-CIRCUIT MODEL: Timothy Leary's synthesis of modern psychology, esoteric concepts of altered states of consciousness, and the 20th-c. scientific outlook in general. The "circuits" referred to are channels for the "reception, integration and transmission" of information within the nervous system. In brief they are: C-I Biosurvival; C- II Emotional/Territorial; C-III Semantic; C-IV Socio-Sexual (the "terrestrial" or "mechanical" circuits); C-V "Neurosomatic"; C-VI "Neuroelectric"; C-VII "Neurogenetic"; C-VIII "Neuroatomic", "Metaphysiological" (the "cyber/quantum" or "post-terrestrial" circuits). The most complete discussion of what these different circuits "do", how they relate to evolutionary theory etc, is in Leary's Info-Psychology; they are also discussed at length in Robert Anton Wilson's Prometheus Rising and Antero Alli's All Rites Reversed.
EXPLICIT (EXPLICATED) DYAD/TRIAD/TETRAD: When an implicit -iad is fleshed out through rapport and communication so that it is a functional and more or less "permanent" [see "scorched earth"] relationship. To work on this process is to explicate; through conversation, cooperation, or other forms of alingual communication & exchange.
FLESHMEET: Net acquaintances meet in physical reality, often in large numbers, with varying degrees of significance to the participants.
GNOW: To really know. Mutation of "gnosis" which refers to an inner, undemonstrable and perhaps undefensible -- but nevertheless unshakeable knowledge. SYNONYMS: Grok, Interstand.
HOLARCHY/HOLON: Arthur Koesteller came up with 2 terms which he felt were very handy: "holarchy" and "holon." A holarchy is a whole which is like a hologram, in that all of its parts contain reflections [or models] OF that whole. A holon is any one unit of that whole. In fact, technically every holon is a holarchy in its own right and every holarchy is a holon. The Mandelbrot set, in chaos geometry, is a prime example of a holarchy; each little baby Mandelbrot in the whole is a holon.
IADICS: The study of the complex web of relationships among Leriati. A sociological term explored in depth by Dr. John Lilly and now under heavy investigation by the Leri Institute. SEE: Dyad, Triad, Explicit/Implicit Dyad/Triad/Tetrad
IMPLICIT DYAD/TRIAD/TETRAD:-Iads in which the potentialities for connection & communication are seen, but the links and channels themselves are still weak or unexplored.
LURKERS: That group of Lerilanders which is subscribed to the list but feels no need to post; comprises the bulk of list subscribers.
MELTDOWN: A term used to describe a particularly negative experience during a group zoom or other psychedelic experience; connotations usually imply a powerfully bad trip causing negative emotional repercussions for the participants. "Meltdown" is used instead of "bad trip" to imply the sheer intensity of the experience, as well as the absolute unavoidable nature of the experience, once set in motion. There is no corresponding term for a profoundly positive experience, perhaps because very few of us would be comfortable using the word "Miracle" with a straight face.
MEME: An idea or concept. A unit of cultural information, analogous to the concept of "gene" (a unit of hereditary information). Coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, to highlight the similarities between biological and cultural evolution (eg the existence of mutation and selection). adjective: "memetic". Memetics is the hypothetical study of memes, how they spread (analogy here to viruses), what types there are, etc.
MEmeme: The meme that "my circumstances, as brought about by my self- referential nature, are all i can ever DEFENSIBLY gnow." A development of "solipsism" and "existentialism" with the corrolary that the "self" cannot DEFENSIBLY be limited to the physical boundaries of the flesh, but must LOGICALLY be extended to include the sum of the experiencing individual's CIRCUMSTANCES. Environment as brought about through inherent actions of a Self. Mike Gourlay insidiously takes credit for surfacing this sucker.
METAPROGRAMMING: Consciously changing one's "models" or "maps" of the world; changing "reality-tunnels"; changing the rules of (your) reality. Term coined by Dr John Lilly.
NEAR MISS: In New Mexico, absent friend Mike Gourlay pointed out to us that some of the most interesting quantum events took place when particles did not collide directly, but rather missed each other by the slightest margin. Much to his bemusement, we quickly morphed it into a Leri Theori of Communication. We speculated that all attempts at communication and interaction took the form of a nearer or further miss: while I cannot fully understand what you mean to convey, from the inside, I can come closer and closer in my incomplete understanding; I can miss more and more nearly. We used this Theori to explain both the exciting synergies as well as the inevitable margins which cleave us -- and by which we cleave to each other.
NETRIP: The occasional combination of psychedelics and vast amounts of emailing and ircing amongst Lerilanders.
OMNIVERSE: The 'totality of all everythings' - all possible worldviews put together. The sum total of everything that actually exists, whether you as an individual know about it or not. "Omniversal" is often used to tag an idea which Needs More Refinement; one which is TOO broad to be applicably meaningful. Originally tagged by Rich Raby.
ORGASM 2012: A term for the "event" surrounding the zero-time "Singularity" of fractal temporality. The techno-psychedelic apocalypse predicted by Terence McKenna's brew of fractal mathematics, Mayan calendrics, and the I Ching (still under investigation by the Leri Institute).
PING: Adapted from "radar ping," used to signify a message or attempt to communicate which contains no meaning; ie, the attempt itself is the meaning. One line messages to Leri with "Ping" as the subject line were formerly used to see, for example, if the list was up and running properly or if someone else was online.
REGULARS: That group of Lerilanders who make up the bulk of Leri traffic, by constant threading and participation; also refers to that group which maintains an active presence in the community by way of fleshmeets, #leri, etc.
SAUDADE: Portuguese word basically meaning the overhwhelmingly joyful sorrow of a fleeting beauty as felt within its moment. One of Leri's favorite flavors.
SCORCHED EARTH Sometimes lightening strikes a forest, and an area of it burns to the ground, seemingly-catastrophically. However, it seems that these areas of "scorched earth" are those out of which the most hardy and resilient new growth tends to form. Likewise, there have been times in the past of explicated Leri relationships where a crisis has rent asunder two who were closely bound. Experience has shown that, over time, there is the potential for astoundingly tight re-explications of these "scorched earth" situations and relationships.
SESAME STREET: Phrase that arose at the Albequerque New Year's fleshmeet 1993/'94 to denote an idea or model which was so simple as to be intuitively obvious, but which required modelling anyway. The notion was that, even though an idea itself may be simple or common, easily translated models of it are required so that we can think about thinking about that idea [metacognition]. "Self- reference is the engine that makes Leri run."
SINGULARITY: Originally, any region or event which is unique and unpredictable (from mathematics) - eg a space-time singularity is a point at which space and time cease. In Cyberpunk and Leri circles, the singularity has come to refer to an event or period characterized by radical new technologies, social and intellectual transformations, and the transcendence of the historic human condition, perhaps culminating in Orgasm 2012.
SYNCHRONICITY: Coincidence imbued with meaning. Synchronicity is often referred to when people would otherwise say "coincidence", but they wish to avoid the connotations of that term (that there was no meaning or cause to the event) and don't want to dogmatically ascribe the meaningful coincidence to any particular deity or Transpersonal Force. Originally coined by Dr. Carl Jung.
TREMENDUM: A body or core of experience that completely overwhelms the individual. This experience can be approached via a variety of methods; the most common around here is via psychedelics. At the heart of this experience is an "information transfer" of immense, overwhelming proportions. Words will inherently fail in attempting to describe what the tremendum actually is; we can barely manage to describe what it was like just to see it, or feel it, in whatever proximity. A true mystical experience.
TRIAD: Three people who can, because of their rapport and open channels of communication, can act as and be seen as one efficient "organism" or "unit" when they need to. Larry, Moe & Curly. Mike D, Ad-Rock & MCA. tetrad: Four people who can etc. One theory is that the strongest synergies exist within triads, but that triads can most easily emergefrom within synergetic tetrads. A tetrad actually contains 4 triads.
VESSEL: Concept very nearly isomorphic with the notion of We. A vessel is a symbolic, intentional bonding of individuals for a shared purpose and/or experience. Generally, vessel is used to denote a shared space that is elevated in some way, or considered sacred in some way by the participants. A vessel implies deeply felt and experienced levels of respect, courage, and love; the mystical connotations of the term are inherent and unavoidable. Most importantly, a vessel does not sustain itself indefinitely; it requires constant, deliberate choice on the part of the participants to continue.
WEmeme: The meme that "even though the gnowledge of the MEmeme at work in me is IRREFUTABLE, I nevertheless feel INDEFENSIBLE but UTTERLY COMPELLING tendencies to communicate my Approach to the hypothetical-Others which I percieve, perhaps in an effort to forge a sense of community." Corrolary: "there SEEM to be others besides me; even if there are NOT any others, the SENSATION of others MUST have a FUNCTION in my Self, or the sensation would not be there. I feel compelled to explore this sensation of others and see where the entertainment of the notion leads me."
ZOOMING: Local shorthand for tripping. Mutation of the psychedelic term, "trip," grafting to the psychedelic voyage the meme that reality as percieved entails a fractal dimension of information which can be ZOOMed into and out of during the "zoom," much as one would zoom in and out of the various scales of an infinitely iterative chaotic fractal such as the Mandelbrot Set. HYPOTHESIS: greater dosages of psychedelics COMPEL a more extreme zoom factor on the reality-fractal.