Don's Home Reference 21st Century Glossary of Terms
last updated 26 Feb 2023

Under Construction
In 2016-17 I noticed a lot of new terminology from things like the 2016 election campaign and advances in computing show up in the news and conversation as if everyone knows what they are.
Some are not new, but many are old terms which are coming into more common use.

It is not a complete list and definitions need to be tweaked, but it's a start.

Just click on some entries without a description to do a google search.

See also: Urban Dictionary for more terms with more in depth definitions.

  • 1919 Project - Launched in August 2019 with a special issue of The New York Times Magazine. The project illuminates the legacy of slavery in the contemporary United States, and highlights the contributions of Black Americans to every aspect of American society. In the years since its launch it has expanded through new resources, including a podcast, a book-length anthology, a children's book and a TV documentry.
  • 1965 - Statements that "certain problems started around 1965", is a racist dog whistle referring to The 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the 1965 Immigration Reform Act.
    See Critical Race Theory (CRT) below.
  • 3GPP - 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) unites [Seven] telecommunications standard development organizations to develop standards for 3G, 4G and 5G mobile networks.
  • 4G - Fourth generation of broadband cellular phone network technology. Commonly used the LTE protocol. Allows transmission speeds of up to 100 Mb/s (megabits per second). Standardized in 2009.
  • 5G - Fifth generation of broadband cellular network technology. It will initially have speeds 5 Gbps (giga bits per second), but can go up to 20 Gbps.
    As of January 2023 5G coverage (number of towers) nationwide in the U.S. ranged from 13% for Verizon to 54% for T-Mobile according to WhistleOut.
    Phones that work: iPhone 12 and later. Samsung Galaxy S20,S23, Note 10, W30, .... Google pixel 7, ...
  • AI - Artificial intelligence
    The idea that a computer could think like a human Timeline:
    1950's- AI (Artificial Intelligence) - Expert Systems 
            Decision trees, rule-based systems
    1980's- Machine Learning - Neural Networks
    2010's- Cognitive Computing - Deep Learning
    
    See AI for more.
  • AAVE - African-American Vernacular English
  • Alphabet (Holding company for google and a bunch of smaller companies working on leading edge technology.
  • Alt-Right - A loose group of people with far right ideologies who reject mainstream conservatism in the United States.
    Made popular during the 2016 election campaign.
  • Antifa - Anti-Fascist - Gained notoriety after the White Nationalist clash in Charlottesville in 2017.
  • AR - Augmented Reality - Like Virtual Reality, but where the objects that reside in the real-world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities. e.g visual, auditory, haptic (sensing motion, shape, temperature, ... by feel). Can be used to make a person appear to be saying something they really didn't say.
    See VR/AR/MR, what's the difference? | Virtual reality | Foundry
  • Autonomous Car
  • ARM - Advanced RISC Machine. A family of reduced instruction set computing (RISC) architectures for computer processors. 98% of all mobile phones sold used at least one ARM processor. In 2020 Apple developed an ARM processor to replace INTEL chips in their laptop and desktop computers.
    Arm is also a company which deals in ARM processors and other technology.
  • Avatar - An electronic image that represents and may be manipulated by a computer user (as in a game)
    The incarnation of a Hindu deity (such as Vishnu)
    A science fiction movie of the same name.
    See Merriam-Webster definition
  • Benghazi - A 2012 coordinated attack against two United States government facilities in Benghazi, Libya, by members of the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Sharia.
    Despite persistent accusations against President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Susan Rice, ten investigationssix by Republican-controlled Congressional Committeesdid not find that they or any other high-ranking Obama administration officials had acted improperly.
  • Bitcoin - A type of digital Currency.
  • BI - Business Intelligence - The strategies and technologies used by enterprises for the data analysis of business information.
    Related Terms: Data Mining, Big Data, infographics.
  • Big Data - Data sets that are so large or complex that traditional data processing application software is inadequate to deal with them.
    Lately, the term "big data" tends to refer to the use of predictive analytics, user behavior analytics.
    Related terms: machine intelligence and deep computing.
    The term has been in use since the 1990s, with some giving credit to John Mashey for coining it.
  • Biome - Biomes are distinct biological communities that have formed in response to a shared physical climate. "Biome" is a broader term than "habitat"; any biome can comprise a variety of habitats
  • BLM - Black Lives Matter. A social movement against incidents of police brutality and all racially motivated violence against black people following a series police killings of unarmed Black Men. In July 2013, the movement began with the use of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, a civilian neighborhood watch coordinator, in the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin 17 months earlier in February 2012.
  • Blockchain - A a decentralized peer-to-peer network but has also become the de facto standard for cryptocurrencies. It consists of a list of digital records, called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography. By design, blockchains are inherently resistant to modification of the data.
    Originally developed for digigal currencies (e.g. bitcoin), it is now being adapter for other uses such as medical records, complex financial transaction tracking, supply chain tracking, ...
  • Cancel Culture - A modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles - either online on social media, in the real world, or both. Those who are subject to this ostracism are said to be "canceled."
    The term was used frequently in the 2020 Republican National Convention. e.g. "Cancel a culture that loves its heroes" referring obliquely to the nationwide trend of toppling Confederate statues in protests against racism.
    It also referes to prominent people who's careers were damaged because of racist comments or sexual misconduct.
  • Chatbot - ates and processes human conversation (either written or spoken), allowing humans to interact with digital devices as if they were communicating with a real person.
  • Coronavirus - A general class of viruses studied in the 1960s that gets its name from a distinctive corona or 'crown' of sugary-proteins that projects from the envelope surrounding the particle.
    SARS-CoV-2 is a type of single stranded enveloped positive-sense RNA (Ribonucleic acid) (ssRNA(+) retrovirus like SARS, MERS and HIV -- One of 7 classes of viruses.
  • Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
  • COVID-19 - A disease which attacks the resparitory system caused by the The SARS-CoV-2 virus.
    See more at Corona Virus Facts here
  • Cas9 - CRISPR-associated (Cas) endonuclease, or enzyme, that acts as "molecular scissors" to cut DNA at a location specified by a guide RNA. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
  • CRISPR - Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat.
    CRISPR technology is a simple yet powerful tool for editing genomes. It allows researchers to easily alter DNA sequences and modify gene function. Its many potential applications include correcting genetic defects, treating and preventing the spread of diseases and improving crops.
    See What Is CRISPR? | LiveScience.com
  • Cloud - A metaphor for the Internet. Cloud computing, Cloud storage.
  • Critical Race Theory (CRT) It's been around for 40 years, but events in 2021 increased public awareness about things like housing segregation, the impacts of criminal justice policy, and the legacy of enslavement on Black Americans.
    The core idea is that race is a social construct, and that racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies.
    It's been taught at the college level for a while, but the topic exploded in the public arena in the spring of 2021 when people started to discuss its inclusion in K-12 history.
    Numerous state legislatures are debating bills seeking to ban its use in the classroom.
  • Cryptocurrency - A type of digital currency.
    Examples Bitcoin (2009), Tether, BNB, USD Coin, XRP.
    Allows individuals to engage in peer-to-peer financial transactions or enter into contracts. In either case, there is no need for some trusted third-party intermediary such as a bank, monetary authority, court, or judge.
    Digital currency is more of a blanket term that can be used for various assets. While you could certainly call cryptocurrency a digital currency, not all digital currencies are cryptocurrencies.
    In November 2023 Cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsed following a report by CoinDesk highlighting potential leverage and solvency concerns.
  • CSA - Community Supported Agrilculture
  • Culture Wars - The term is commonly used to describe aspects of contemporary politics in the United States. This includes wedge issues such as abortion, homosexuality, transgender rights, pornography, multiculturalism, racism and other cultural conflicts based on values, morality, and lifestyle The term is commonly used to describe aspects of contemporary politics in the United States.

    Coined by James Davison Hunter's 1991 book of the same title. He talks about how how Christian fundamentalist, Orthodox Jews, and conservative Catholics have joined forces in a fierce battle against their progressive counterpartssecularist, reformed Jews, liberal Catholics and most main-line Protestants.

  • Deep fakes - is a technique for human image synthesis based on artificial intelligence. It is used to combine and superimpose existing images and videos onto source images or videos using a machine learning technique called a "generative adversarial network" (GAN). It can create a video that can depict a person or persons saying things or performing actions that never occurred in reality.
    Deepfake Queen: 2020 Alternative Christmas Message went viral.
  • DE&I Diversity, equity, & inclusion
  • Deep Learning - The latest improvement of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Deep-learning software is an attempt to mimic the activity in layers of neurons in the neocortex, the wrinkly 80 percent of the brain where thinking occurs. It analyzes large data sets to teach itself. Something like neuro networks but more complex.
    AI and Neural Networks never lived up to their promise, but better algorithms and more powerful computers are allowing a jump in AI functionality. Things like language processing, object recognition are some of the applications.
    See Deep Learning - MIT Technology Review
    and The Difference Between AI, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning? | NVIDIA Blog
  • Digital currency Digital currency is any fungible asset that exists online. Whether it's on the blockchain, in our smartphones, or on our payment cards, digital money has become an inherently crucial part of our global economy throughout the 21st century. Many kinds of traditional tender exist as digital currencies, including the British Pound, US Dollar, Japanese Yen, Indian Rupee, - Any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet.
    Digital currency is more of a blanket term that can be used for various assets. While you could certainly call cryptocurrency a digital currency, not all digital currencies are cryptocurrencies.
    See Digital Currency vs. Cryptocurrency: What's the Difference?
  • Dog Whistle - The use of coded or suggestive language in political messaging to garner support from a particular group without provoking opposition.
    Comes from dog whistles with a high frequency that humans can't hear but dogs can.
    e.g. "family values" in the U.S. is a signal to Christians that a candidate would support policies promoting Christian values without alienating non-Christian supporters.
  • Doxxing - Publicly exposing someone's real name or address on the Internet who has taken pains to keep them secret.
  • Eco-Fascism - Radical far-right view which advocate that overpopulation is the primary threat to the environment and that the only solution is to completely halt immigration.
    See The Winter 2022 issue of the Sierra Club's Sierra Magazine.
    "The rise of Ecofascism : Climate CHange and the Far right."Moore and Roberts, 1922
  • Emolument Clause - A provision of the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 9, Paragraph 8) that generally prohibits federal officeholders from receiving any gift, payment, or other thing of value from a foreign state or its rulers, officers, or representatives.
  • Endemic - An infection which is constantly maintained at a baseline level in a geographic area without external inputs. For example, chickenpox is endemic (steady state) in the UK, but malaria is not.
  • ESG - Environmental, Social and Governance. A strong ESG rating indicates that a company manages its ESG risks well in comparison to its peers. It includes topics such as climate change adaptation, energy efficiency, employee health & wellbeing, diversity, equity, & inclusion (DE&I), and human rights.
  • Ethereum (ETH) - a decentralized software platform that enables smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps) to be built and run without any downtime, fraud, control, or interference from a third party. The goal behind Ethereum is to create a decentralized suite of financial products that anyone in the world can freely access,
  • Existential - Existence or the experience of existence. The meaning of being.
    Climate Change can be an existential threat to life on earth.
    Existentialism is part of various philosophies that have in common an interpretation of human existence in the world that stresses its concreteness and its problematic character.
    Child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim believed that fairy tales help children cope with their existential anxieties and dilemmas.
    Jonathan Webber argues that "as originally defined by Simone de Beavoir and Jean-Paul Sarte, extentialism is the ethical theory that we ought to great the freedom at the core of human existence as intrinsically valuable and the foundation of all other values".
  • EVZ - 1. Electric Vehicle Zone/Zero carbon/Zed - Electric Vehicle Charge Sharing Infrastructure Platform that automatically connects chargers in idle time and electric vehicle users to provide mutual value and solve energy issues.
    The ticker symbol for Electric Vehicle Zone Stock.
  • FAANG - Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Alphabet's Google; The five most popular and best performing tech stocks in the stock market.
    Jim Cramer coined the term FANG in 2015 (without Apple) for mega-cap tech stocks. Others used FAMGA - Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon.
    Now Alphabet (Holding company for google and a bunch of smaller companies working on leading edge technology.
  • Fake News - Made-up stuff, masterfully manipulated to look like credible journalistic reports that are easily spread online to large audiences willing to believe the fictions and spread the word.
    The US intelligence community has said that Russia interfered in the 2016 election by using things like fake social media accounts and adds to create fake news favoring Trump.
    Since the election President Trump has been using it refer to any traditional news he doesn't agree with.
    See:
    How Fake News Goes Viral - The New York Times A 2018 Ohio State study suggests fake news might have won Donald Trump the 2016 election - The Washington Post
  • Fediverse - is an ensemble of federated (i.e. interconnected) servers that are used for web publishing (i.e. social networking, microblogging, blogging, or websites) and file hosting, but which, while independently hosted, can communicate with each other. See Fediverse Party - explore federated networks
    Eg. Streams, Hubzilla, gnu social
  • Gaslighting -"The act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one's own advantage"
    Came from the 1938 play and 1944 film Gaslight where to the 1938 play and 1944 film Gaslight where a nefarious man attempts to trick his new wife into thinking shes losing her mind, in part by telling her that the gaslights in their home, which dim when hes in the attic doing dastardly deeds, are not fading at all.
    In 2022 politics in 2017 a CNN opinion writer said President Donald Trump was gaslighting all of us after he denied making several statements hed made in public.
    Merriam Websters word of the year 2022.
  • GAN, or Generative Adversarial Network; a specific type of machine learning that uses dueling neural networks to create realistic photos and videos.
  • Genetic Engineering -
  • Genome - A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes. See Molecular Biology
  • Geoengineering - A blanket term for a number of proposed methods for contracting climate change. Spraying particles such as sulfur dioxide, alumina, or calcium carbonate into the stratosphere.to scatter sunlight, or making coastal clouds more reflective.
  • Gig Economy - Short term jobs - Contractors. From a musician's "Gig"
    A study by Intuit predicted that by 2020, 40 percent of American workers would be independent contractors.
  • HDR - High Dynamic Range - Pictures/photos with a greater range of luminosity.
  • Jim Crow The system of Segregation in the South whichincluded: Separate drinking fountains. Seating at the back of the bus, train and movie theater. Intimidation and violence at the voting booth. From the period of post-Civil War Reconstruction until well into the 1960s, African-Americans were denied many of the rights they were entitled to as citizens of the United States.
    It still comes up in relation the the BLM struggle.
  • Let's Go Brandon - The line has become conservative code (Dog Whistle) for : “F—- Joe Biden.”
    Originated from a NASCAR race in mid-2021. The crowd began to chant "F—- Joe Biden." When the media covered it, they attempted to convince people that the crowd was saying "Let's Go Brandon," to cheer on one of the racers, Brandon Brown.
  • Lincoln Project - American political action committee (PAC) formed in late 2019 by former and present Republicans. During the 2020 presidential election, it aimed to prevent the re-election of Donald Trump and defeat all Republicans in close races running for re-election in the United States Senate.
  • LTE - Long Term Evolution - A standard for 4G mobile phone networks.
  • Machine Learning - Part of Artificial Intelligence . Machine learning algorithms build a model based on sample data, known as training data, in order to make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed to do so.
  • MAGA - Make America Grate Agin - Donald Trump's campaign slogan
  • me too - A social movement against sexual abuse and sexual harassment.
  • MBS - Mohammed bin Salman - The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. He has been described as the power behind the throne of his father, King Salman. He is currently serving as the country's deputy prime minister (the title of prime minister being held by the king).
    He has led several successful reforms, which include regulations restricting the powers of the religious police, the removal of the ban on female drivers.
    Human rights groups have been openly critical of bin Salman's leadership and the shortfalls of his reform program, citing a rising number of detentions and alleged torture of human rights activists.
  • Meme - A meme is a virally transmitted image embellished with text, usually sharing pointed commentary on cultural symbols, social ideas, or current events. A meme is typically a photo or video, although sometimes it can be a block of text. When a meme resonates with many people, it's spread via social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, texting, and more. The spread of memes was referred to as internet trolling (above).
  • MetaVerse - An immersive 3D environment where multiple people can share the same virtual space.
    it will probably provide users with a single avatar or digital identity, which grants them access to an integrated digital ecosystem. The ecosystem would potentially have its own currency, property and possessions.
    A metaverse will be accessed via easily portable and immersive hardware like VR headsets, AR glasses, gloves, watches, earbuds and contact lenses. The word “metaverse” was actually coined by author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash.
    Made popular when Facebook changed it's name to Meta in 2021.
    It may include elements of existing technologies and ideas such as:
    See What is the metaverse? | ChatamHouse
    and Metaverse in technology here.
  • MR - Mixed Reality - The merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualisations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time.
    See VR/AR/MR, what's the difference? | Virtual reality | Foundry
  • mRNA - messenger RNA - basically half of a DNA molecule that leaves the cell nucleus to generate a protein.
  • Nationalism - Identification with one's own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations.
  • Neural Networks - a computer system modeled on the human brain and nervous system.
  • Nomophobia - The irrational fear of being without your mobile phone or being unable to use your phone for some reason, such as the absence of a signal or running out of minutes or battery power.
  • Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (NCP) - The original name given to COVID-19
  • NTF - Non-fungible token. NFTs can really be anything digital (such as drawings, music, your brain downloaded and turned into an AI).
    At a very high level, most NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain, though other blockchains have implemented their own version of NFTs. Ethereum is a cryptocurrency, like bitcoin or dogecoin, but its blockchain also keeps track of who’s holding and trading NFTs.
  • PAC - Political Action Committee - A 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation.
    The term 527 is usually applied only to such organizations that are not regulated under state or federal campaign finance laws because they do not "expressly advocate" for the election or defeat of a candidate or party.
  • Pandemic - A disease that has spread across many countries and affects a large number of people.<>BR> the term is usually applied only to such organizations that are not regulated under state or federal campaign finance laws because they do not "expressly advocate" for the election or defeat of a candidate or party.
  • Pharmacogenetics - The branch of pharmacology concerned with the effect of genetic factors on reactions to drugs.
  • OANN - One America News Network - Its prime-time political talk shows have a conservative perspective, and the channel has described itself as one of the "greatest supporters" of Trump. Founded 2013
  • Populism - A political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.
    Populists range from Donald Trump a conservative U.S. president to Hugo Chavez a revolutionary socialist in Venezuela.
  • Pizzagate - A debunked conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle. It claimed that coded messages from Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta's hacked email connected several high-ranking Democratic Party officials and U.S. restaurants with an alleged human trafficking and child sex ring.
  • Psychographics - The study and classification of people according to their attitudes, aspirations, and other psychological criteria, especially in market research.
  • QAnon - A far right-wing loosely organized conspiracy group. QAnon purports that America is run by a cabal of pedophiles and Satan-worshippers who run a global child sex-trafficking operation and that President Trump, who was recruited by the defense department, is the only person who can stop them.
  • RICO - Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 1970
    - Allows Mob bosses to be tried for crimes they ordered others to do or assisted them in doing. Some have suggested recently that former political leaders could be charged under RICO.
  • RINO - Republican in name only - Moderate Republicans
  • RISC - Reduced Instruction Set Computer - A computer processor with fewer instructions which require a low number of clock cycles per instruction (CPI). It may take more instructions to complete a task, but they run faster.
    Examples are Sun's SPARC, IBM's PowerPC (also used by Apple), Stanford's MIPS, Apple's AMC and others.
  • Rumi Jalaluddin Mohammad Rum or Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi, (Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī) - 13th-century poet, Hanafi faqih, Islamic scholar, Maturidi theologian and Sufi mystic originally from Greater Khorasan in Greater Iran.
    See Rumi in religion.
  • Semantic Bleaching - The semantic content of a word becomes reduced as the grammatical content increases. e.g. in the late 1800's the word love was applied to inanimate objects like food.
  • Spacial Computing - Spatial computing is the use of digital technology to interact with computers that understand their own use in space. As opposed to traditional computing, which is carried out behind a 2D screen, spatial computing leverages AR, VR, and MR to make a computer user interface a seamless part of our world.
  • STEM - Science, Technology, Enginering & Medicine
  • Troll - A troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into an emotional response.
  • Trope - A figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression.
    The mad scientist trope first emerged, says University of Warwick film fellow James Taylor, because of fears around the atomic bomb.
  • UAV - Unmanned Aerial Vehicles - Drone
  • VR - Virtual Reality - In it's simplest form you put on a headset which shows a a three-dimensional, computer generated environment. As you move and look around it's as if you were somewhere else. More sophisticated systems use things like omni-directional treadmills and special gloves.
    See VR/AR/MR, what's the difference? | Virtual reality | Foundry
  • WOKE - (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK) is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination". Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities such as sexism, and has also been used as shorthand for American Left ideas involving identity politics and social justice, such as the notion of white privilege and slavery reparations for African Americans.

Links:
Urban Dictionary
Words made popular in the 2016 election campaign
Analytics and Big Data Glossary for the Enterprise
BBC - Culture - A glossary for the 21st Century
Oxford English Dictionary (OED) updates: June 2017 | March 2017 | December 2016 | September 2016 | Previous updates

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