0%

15-letter words containing s, e, p, t, i

  • computer ethics — (philosophy)   Ethics is the field of study that is concerned with questions of value, that is, judgments about what human behaviour is "good" or "bad". Ethical judgments are no different in the area of computing from those in any other area. Computers raise problems of privacy, ownership, theft, and power, to name but a few. Computer ethics can be grounded in one of four basic world-views: Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism, or Existentialism. Idealists believe that reality is basically ideas and that ethics therefore involves conforming to ideals. Realists believe that reality is basically nature and that ethics therefore involves acting according to what is natural. Pragmatists believe that reality is not fixed but is in process and that ethics therefore is practical (that is, concerned with what will produce socially-desired results). Existentialists believe reality is self-defined and that ethics therefore is individual (that is, concerned only with one's own conscience). Idealism and Realism can be considered ABSOLUTIST worldviews because they are based on something fixed (that is, ideas or nature, respectively). Pragmatism and Existentialism can be considered RELATIVIST worldviews because they are based or something relational (that is, society or the individual, respectively). Thus ethical judgments will vary, depending on the judge's world-view. Some examples: First consider theft. Suppose a university's computer is used for sending an e-mail message to a friend or for conducting a full-blown private business (billing, payroll, inventory, etc.). The absolutist would say that both activities are unethical (while recognising a difference in the amount of wrong being done). A relativist might say that the latter activities were wrong because they tied up too much memory and slowed down the machine, but the e-mail message wasn't wrong because it had no significant effect on operations. Next consider privacy. An instructor uses her account to acquire the cumulative grade point average of a student who is in a class which she instructs. She obtained the password for this restricted information from someone in the Records Office who erroneously thought that she was the student's advisor. The absolutist would probably say that the instructor acted wrongly, since the only person who is entitled to this information is the student and his or her advisor. The relativist would probably ask why the instructor wanted the information. If she replied that she wanted it to be sure that her grading of the student was consistent with the student's overall academic performance record, the relativist might agree that such use was acceptable. Finally, consider power. At a particular university, if a professor wants a computer account, all she or he need do is request one but a student must obtain faculty sponsorship in order to receive an account. An absolutist (because of a proclivity for hierarchical thinking) might not have a problem with this divergence in procedure. A relativist, on the other hand, might question what makes the two situations essentially different (e.g. are faculty assumed to have more need for computers than students? Are students more likely to cause problems than faculty? Is this a hold-over from the days of "in loco parentis"?).
  • computer vision — a robot analogue of human vision in which information about the environment is received by one or more video cameras and processed by computer: used in navigation by robots, in the control of automated production lines, etc.
  • computerisation — (chiefly, British) alternative spelling of computerization.
  • conceptualising — Present participle of conceptualise.
  • conceptualistic — Of or pertaining to conceptualism.
  • concert pianist — a person who earns a living from giving solo performances on the piano in front of audiences
  • concurrent lisp — (language)   A concurrent version of Lisp. Sugimoto et al implemented an interpreter on a "large scale computer" and were planning to implement it on multiple microprocessors.
  • conservatorship — the legal status of a person appointed by a court to protect the interests of someone, such as a child, who is unable to manage his or her own affairs
  • contrapositives — (logic) Plural form of contrapositive.
  • cooperativeness — working or acting together willingly for a common purpose or benefit.
  • copper arsenite — a yellowish-green, water-insoluble, poisonous powder, CuHAsO 3 , used chiefly as a pigment and as an insecticide.
  • corruptibleness — The state or quality of being corruptible.
  • cosmopolitanize — to make cosmopolitan.
  • crispy critters — (jargon)   (Or "Crispy Crittered". From the "Post" breakfast cereal of the same name) hardware which is fried or toast.
  • cross-pollinate — to subject or be subjected to cross-pollination
  • crossopterygian — any bony fish of the subclass Crossopterygii, having fleshy limblike pectoral fins. The group, now mostly extinct, contains the ancestors of the amphibians
  • cut (up) didoes — to behave in mischievous or silly way
  • daguerreotypist — an obsolete photographic process, invented in 1839, in which a picture made on a silver surface sensitized with iodine was developed by exposure to mercury vapor.
  • data processing — Data processing is the series of operations that are carried out on data, especially by computers, in order to present, interpret, or obtain information.
  • decomposability — (uncountable) The condition of being decomposable.
  • decompositional — Of or pertaining to decomposition.
  • delta hepatitis — a severe form of hepatitis caused by an incomplete virus (delta virus) that links to the hepatitis B virus for its replication.
  • departmentalism — division into departments, esp when resulting in impaired efficiency
  • dephlogisticate — to reduce or remove inflammation from
  • deposit account — A deposit account is a type of bank account where the money in it earns interest.
  • deputy minister — (in Canada) the senior civil servant in a government department
  • dermatoglyphics — the lines forming a skin pattern, esp on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet
  • dermatographism — a condition in which touching or lightly scratching the skin causes raised, reddish marks.
  • dermatophytosis — a fungal infection of the skin, esp the feet
  • descriptionless — Without a description.
  • descriptiveness — having the quality of describing; characterized by description: a descriptive passage in an essay.
  • despecification — The act of generalizing, or making less specific.
  • diaheliotropism — the tendency among plants to respond to the light of the sun by orienting their leaves perpendicular to the sun's rays, such that the upper surface of the leaves receives maximum light
  • dictation speed — a speed of speaking that enables someone to take down what is being said
  • die standing up — to cease to live; undergo the complete and permanent cessation of all vital functions; become dead.
  • direct positive — a positive obtained from another positive without an intermediate step.
  • disappointments — Plural form of disappointment.
  • disimprisonment — the act of disimprisoning
  • disincorporated — Simple past tense and past participle of disincorporate.
  • dispassionately — free from or unaffected by passion; devoid of personal feeling or bias; impartial; calm: a dispassionate critic.
  • disperse system — Also, dispersal. an act, state, or instance of dispersing or of being dispersed.
  • display cabinet — a cabinet in a shop, museum, etc, that displays items
  • disproportioned — lack of proportion; lack of proper relationship in size, number, etc.: architectural disproportions.
  • disreputability — The state of being disreputable.
  • disrespectfully — characterized by, having, or showing disrespect; lacking courtesy or esteem: a disrespectful remark about teachers.
  • dolphin striker — a short vertical strut between the bowsprit and a rope or cable (martingale) from the end of the jib boom to the stem or bows, used for maintaining tension and preventing upward movement of the jib boom
  • double stopping — playing two notes or parts simultaneously on a string instrument
  • duelling pistol — one of a pair of identical pistols made specifically for use in duels
  • dumpster diving — the practice of foraging in garbage that has been put out on the street in dumpsters, garbage cans, etc., for discarded items that may still be valuable, useful, or fixable.
  • duplicitousness — The state or condition of being duplicitous.
Was this page helpful?
Yes No
Thank you for your feedback! Tell your friends about this page
Tell us why?