SPaDE

The SPaDE Glossary

Note that in this glossary, many terms are given special meanings for SPaDE which may differ from their general usage.

DEFST

D

Declarative Knowledge

Knowledge captured in propositions expressed by sentences in a well defined declarative language.

Deduction

The process of deriving logical conclusions from premises known or assumed to be true.

Deductive Engineering

An approach to engineering design and construction in which the formal modelling of requirements is progressed concurrently with automated deductively verified design and implementation. Design methods are implemented as derived inference rules which prove compliance of designs with system specifications from premises about the characteristics of components and subsystems, thus progressively refining specifications into designs and implementations.

Diasporic

Concerning the entire cosmic reach of the progeny of a single origin of intelligence, such as Planet Earth.

E

Epistemology

The philosophical study of knowledge

Epistemological Stack

A conceptual framework for understanding how abstract deductive reasoning contributes to deduction in all domains of declarative knowledge.

F

Focal

Giving particular attention to parts of a whole.

Focal Intelligence or Focal AI

AI systems specialising in specific perfect information spaces, producing formally verified solutions to problems within those spaces.

Focal Engineering

The application of focal intelligence to engineering design problems (broadly construed).

Focal Tower

A conceptual framework for understanding how focal engineering can be applied to problems in various domains, by identifying the perfect information spaces within those domains and applying appropriate focal AI techniques to solve problems within those spaces.

S

The Singularity

A hypothesised future point at which technological progress, particularly in AI, becomes so rapid and profound that it defies human understanding and control. Often associated with the acceleration of AI development expected when AI is able to improve its own capabilities or design its succesors autonomously.

Singular Focus

The use of focal intelligence to approach [The Singularity)(#the-singularity), by giving priority to the capabilities which enable AI to improve its own design and implementation.

SPaDE

An acronym for Synthetic Philosophy and Deductive Engineering. The name of an open source knowledge engineering project with a repository at github.com/rbj/SPaDE.

Synthetic Epistemology

Those part of synthetic philosophy seeking to understand knowledge by designing the epistemic engines of the future.

Synthetic Philosophy

A constructive philosophy seeking to understand the future by shaping it, primarily through deductive engineering including synthetic epistemology.

T

Terran

Concerning Planet Earth.