In the future, after we’ve started integrating computers into our brains to enhance them, we’ll develop a concept of aug and naug (augmented, non-augmented), pronounced and likely spelled: og and nog.

The terms will apply to the measure of human mental achievement, specifically to indicate whether a particular mental feat or accomplishment was attained with or without assistance from technology or any other type of enhancement.

Jason: Hey, I scored a 2043 on my MART exam today…
Daniel: Nice, but that was aug, right?
Jason: Of course…if I naug’ed a 2000 I’d be a God.

These terms are likely to be adopted for a few key reasons:

1. They clearly describe the concepts of natural vs. assisted
2. They’re both only one syllable
3. The “n” sound in front of naug gives it a clearly audible differentiation from its positive counterpart

One problem with the terms is that there will be so many degrees of augmentation that it could stop being terribly helpful at some point. But perhaps Aug will migrate in meaning—always indicating the major augmentation of that particular epoch. Like a slow brain interface at one point, vs. a super-fast internal implant in 150 years.

Either way, I think they’re too clean to not get used at some point.

[ May 31, 2008 ]

Notes

1. Feb 22, 2019 — I have also included this definition in my book.
2. Feb 22, 2019 — A colleage, Dan Kaminsky, didn’t like this characterization, but I am still fond of it in 2019.