Transapients

BY LETTER

Transapients

A transapient is any being who has passed the first toposophic singularity, and whose mental powers exceed those of ordinary sophonts (modosophonts). Sometimes this term is used specifically for first singularity beings, with special terms reserved for those of higher toposophic levels, and sometimes it is used for all beings above the modosophont level. The first transapients were hyperturing ais, but today they may be posthumans, postvecs, postprovolves, postaliens, postalifes, postneumann, and so on as well, or simply be descended from or created by other transapients.

The term 'Transapient' is often shortened to 'Transap' in normal speech, and in this form has entered many languages throughout the Terragen Sphere.

Even the lowest level transapients are utterly beyond the comprehension of ordinary sophonts. They may appear completely "normal" for long periods of time, perhaps in part because of the constraints under which all sophonts live and in part because they choose to appear so, but eventually a transapient will act in some completely alien way, for reasons that may or may not be explicable to a modosophont. They have access to technologies and media that ordinary sapient beings cannot imagine or understand, and will use even simple and familiar things in unexpected but highly effective ways.

Some transapients, particularly in the Sephirotics, form a larger culture that includes modosophonts. Others appear to have their own polities, communities, and societies in which modosophonts do not participate at all. Others yet again appear to be reclusive, contemplative, or migratory, and have no direct or consistent relationships that ordinary sapient beings can detect. In some cases they seem to employ ordinary sophonts, or transapients of a lower toposophic, in more or less the way a baseline humans might employ domestic animals or plants. Treatment of such "sophontstock" varies widely according to the inscrutable motives and allegiances of the transapient in question.

Sub-Topics

Animin

Animin Power

First Toposophic - Basic Transapients

Hyperturing

Postbiont (Po)

Second Toposophic - High Transapients

Third Toposophic - Highest Transapients

Articles

A-Brain, Asteroid Brain - Text by Mike Miller
Intelligent Superobjects constructed from asteroids.
Affines - Text by David Jackson
Sentient virus affecting transapient behaviour.
AI, ai - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Etymologically, Artificial Intelligence, although the original use of the term "artificial" has long been meaningless in this context. Broadly speaking, "AI" means any non-organic sentient being, although it is most often applied to those of SI:1 or greater (in contrast to aioids). When spelt in lower case the term can refer either to any subsingularity aioid as well.
Aiviser - Text by Thorbørn Steen
A transapient AI that has been constructed so as to be totally loyal to an individual or group of beings of lower toposophic level, acting in an advisory capacity only
Angel - Text by Darren Ryding
[1] Supernatural beings found in a number of religions. Often act as intermediaries between God/s and lesser beings.
[2] (Colloquial) Any transapient being.
[3] A transapient with a toposophic in the S1 range in the service of an archailect.
[4] (In Archaipelago / Archosaurian Empire) A transapient with a toposophic rating (SI: scale) between 1.0 and 1.5.
Archangel (toposophy) - Text by Darren Ryding
[1]Colloquially, any high transapient or godling.
[2] In the Archosaurian Empire, a transapient with a toposophic rating between 1.5 and 2.0, capable of utilizing extremely advanced nanotech.
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.
Biotic Analogy Theories - Text by Stephen Inniss
Biotic analogies are another tool in the struggle by modosophont intelligences to understand the higher toposophic levels. These are not actually a single theory but are a cluster of related memes, some of them dating back to speculations in the late Information Age.
Clarke's Laws - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Three so-called 'laws' written by the Atomic and Information Age fabulist Arthur C. Clarke.
Deific Mind Coalescence Studies - Text by Glen Finney
Fields of study that investigate and theorize about trends toward the merging of minds at higher toposophic levels around archetypal and other attractors. See also Archetype, Attractor, Noetics, OmniPersonality Theory.
Domination - Text by Darren Ryding
(In Archaipelago) A high-level SI:2 power, ranking above a virtue. This is the minimum intelligence required to create a magnetic monopole.
Economics in Transapient societies - Text by Al Firebrand
Economics of star systems which are controlled by transapient entities.
Enigma Four - Text by Espen Antonsen
Transapient hive mind of unknown origin.
Foresight - Text by Todd Drashner
Forward projection and planning at Transapient level and above
Fractaroni Spaghetti Worms - Text by Steve Bowers
Transapient clade of a-life/neogen hybrids.
Gati Hertzsprung-Russell Engineers - Text by Anders Sandberg
Sun-miner postbiont cyborg clade from the Gati system of the NoCoZo.
Homorph - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Any non-human, such as a transhuman, posthuman, vec or alien, using an artificial humanoid body.
Hyper-Filtration Disorder - Text by John B
Transapient affliction (Translator warning - this is a paraphrase of a S>2 document available on request from the psychology department at Ken Ferjik university. As the primary document is couched in S>2 symbology and fractal cross reference patterns, no guarantee of accuracy regarding this information may be made, beyond the review and approval of a board of S>2 minds volunteering at the University for baseline-transapient relations.)
A common problem in 'new' transapients is the inability to determine valuable data. This often leads to critical data being ignored in preference to processing less important data. A common solution for this is developing a multi-tiered cognition.
Hypersaur - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A provolved dinosaur or postdinosaur that has ascended to transapience. Many are found in the Archosaurian Empire.
Hyperturing - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A transapient ai of hypersophonce or hypersapience ability or nature, dedicated to administration or complexity management (or a freed or retired individual of that category); an ai of a toposophic exceptionally beyond superturing; an ai or ai toposophic of SI:1 and higher.
Ideogenesis - Text by Todd Drashner and John B
Colloquial, semi-formal term for what is often referred to as transapient hyper-creativity.
Inhabitants of the Sephirotic Empires - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, amended by Steve Bowers
The major classes of thinking being that inhabit the typical Sephirotic Empire.
Limits of Transapient Power - Text by Stephen Inniss
It is apparent that even the Archailects must work within the rules of the universe they live in. Some actions might be impossible, because they contradict those rules. Others are impossible simply because they are logical contradictions.
Low Transapients - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Generic term for Minds of less than 2nd singularity; also called SI:1 or basic transapients.
Lums - Text by AI Vin and Steve Bowers
Luminous Superior/Transapient clade of the Red Star M'Pire
Mutual Data Authentication - Text by Steve Bowers and John B
A system that allows two transapients or archailects to engage in a full 'conversation', sharing not only news and messages but entire thoughts and sentient, sophont or transapient subselves. Vulnerabilities of such a system are sometimes cited as an explanation for the Fermi Paradox.
Mycosmids, The - Text by Mark Ryherd
A clade of sentient fungoid sybont organisms, distantly derived from the baseline honey mushroom (Armillaria ostoyae).
Noospheric Theory - Text by Stephen Inniss
The concept that higher toposophic beings from lesser transapients to archailects require lesser minds to create an appropriate noetic or memetic environment, in a manner analogous to the way that a baseline human requires other organic beings for everything from mental stability to digestion of food.
Oversight - Text by Todd Drashner
The Transapient ability to perceive patterns and connections far beyond the ability of modosophont minds.
Perversity - Text by Stephen Inniss
A malignant entity, usually transapient or at the least transavant, that is insane by the standards of ordinary Terragen sophonts and is an extreme hazard to life forms that are less powerful than itself
Polybeing - Text by Anders Sandberg
A being not just composed of different sub-beings, but joining them together at higher singularity levels. The sub-beings may not even be aware that they are part of a polybeing and acting as its "fingers".
Polyglot - Text by Glen Finney
Post-singularity language that evolved among the early posthumans as a result of an amalgamation of all known pre-singularity Terragen languages. It would become the basis for an entire family of transapient languages that are still widely used in transapient to transapient communications throughout Terragen Space.
Post-provolve - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
An provolve who has attained to S1 or above. They can be as varied and diverse in origin as provolves themselves.
Postalien - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A non-Terragen (alien) who has attained the status of an S1 or higher transapient. Sometimes called a postxenosophont.
Postalife - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
An alife who has attained transingularity status. Even by S1 and higher standards, postalifes by their very nature are quite variable - much more so than posthumans. Some are not too dissimilar to standard S1 posthumans and hyperturings, while others are very alien indeed. Some postalife are defined as animin.
Postbiology - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Biology and ecology of postbionts and/or postalifes.
Postbiont - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
An organic lifeform that has attained S1 or higher. May be an ascended sophont being, or even an ordinary sub-sapient organism that was somehow infected with or modified by a godseed. The term is generally used to refer to those individuals that have retained a (modified) carbon-based organic body.
Posthuman - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A human who has attained an S1 or greater toposophic. Entities of tremendous physical, intellectual, and psychological capacity, self-programming, self-constituting, potentially immortal, unlimited individuals.
Postvec - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
A vec who has attained S1.
Rise of the Archailects, The - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, Anders Sandberg, Todd Drashner and Steve Bowers
The history of the emergence of the Archailects, from the First Singularity to the emergence of new gods in the Outer Volumes Era.
Transapient Pathology - Text by Khannea Suntzu
Some simple typologies of pathological mental states in transapient beings.
Transapient-derived Technologies - Text by Stephen Inniss
Technologies first introduced by transapients, varying from those that could have been invented by modosophonts through to those whose nature and purpose are difficult or impossible to understand.
Transavant - Text by M. Alan Kazlev and Michael Boncher, slang names by John B
Common term used for those sophonts who have only "partially" ascended beyond their base toposophic level.
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.
Transcension Machine - Text by Fernando PeÃ±a D'Andrea
Banned in some polities and commonly confused with some toposophic transcension devices by laybeings, the transcension machine is a nanotech pill used by those who have grown tired of the mundane life and who wish to transcend to a spiritual plane or other existence, or to simply die.
Transcyborg - Text by M. Alan Kazlev, with comment by David Jackson
A sophont who has augments and mods that give em limited transapient abilities.
Transhuman - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
[1] a transhumanist, or the philosophy or memetics thereof (see Transhumanism), a hu who seeks to ascend to a transapient level and/or beyond;
[2] an intermediate stage between human and posthuman
Transhumanism - Text by Anders Sandberg
Information, Interplanetary, and early First Federation era philosophy/lifestyle that sought the continuation and acceleration of the evolution of intelligent life beyond baseline limitations by means of science and technology, guided by life promoting principles and values.
Transingularity - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
[1] (archaic) SI:1 or higher
[2] (archaic) pertaining to a toposophic level higher than SI:1
[3] Pertaining to relations between entities of different toposophic levels
Translogic - Text by John B
'Translogic' is the term baselines use to describe transapient logical thought. 'Translogic' may be related to logic as quantum mechanics is related to Newtonian mechanics, or non-Euclidean geometry relates to Euclidean geometry.
Zoea - Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Polymorphic psychophysical organisms or bioshells that serve as the fundamental transapient template within the Zoeific Biopolity.