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Multilingual Glossary 2001

ICA Multilingual Glossary

Please note that this Glossary has been updated several times since 2001. The glossary shown here is an archived version from 2001.

Maps of planetary objects has become an important new product derived from the space investigations of several nations. These planetary maps are used for both research activities and for dissemination of planetary science results to the general populace of nations throughout the world. The terms used to describe physical and geographical objects on these planetary objects sometimes do not translate to the same meaning in different languages. In an attempt to aid international users of planetary maps in obtaining a correct interpretation of the terrains portrayed on these maps, the ICA Commission on Planetary Cartography has initiated a project to collect terms relevant to planetary maps along with their interpretations in various languages. We are dependent upon obtaining the terms and their definitions from users of planetary maps throughout the international community, and we encourage anyone to submit mapping terms with inconsistent interpretations to either of the authors listed above. A glossary of planetary mapping terms and their interpretations in several languages will be posted on the Commission web site ( As an example of the potential problem resulting from a misinterpretation of terms, we note that the numerical term “billion” has two distinct meanings in wide usage: one billion means a thousand million (one times ten to the 9th power) in the United States and France, but it means a million million (one times ten to the 12th power) in Great Britain and Germany (Webster’s Dictionary). This difference could cause a significant error in map scale interpretation. Map descriptions can have similar discrepancies in their usage. For example, a “topographic map” in English and German usage has contours representing terrain elevations, but in Russia this same product is called a “hypsometric map”. The glossary should aid in clarifying cases of potential confusion among mapping terms, as well as provide multiple language expressions for common mapping features (“mountain” in English is “berg” in Dutch and German, “montana” in Spanish, and “montagne” in French).

This paper provides an introduction to an ongoing project by the ICA Commission on Planetary Cartography. The Commission on Planetary Cartography has committed to compile a glossary of terms frequently used on planetary maps, as well as a list of terms from various countries that can be used to identify features on planetary maps, sometimes with very different meanings.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is recognized as the global arbiter of all planetary and satellite nomenclature. Task groups for various planetary subdivisions were formed to oversee the assignment of names for newly identified features on any extraterrestrial object. When images are first obtained of the surface of a planet or other solar system object, a theme for naming features is chosen and a few of the most prominent features are named, usually by members of the appropriate IAU task group. Later, as better images and maps become available, additional features are named, usually at the request of individual investigators mapping or describing specific surface features. Names are considered “provisional” once approved by the appropriate task group, and the names only become official after being approved by the entire IAU assembly, representing scientists from all countries of the world. Many people do not realize that there is this well established procedure for applying names to planetary surfaces, one that makes the process a global effort and not the jurisdiction only of the space-faring nations. Along with specific names for individual features, the IAU has also recognized many terms for use in providing some broad classification of the feature type. We next provide a list of the most common of these descriptive terms, sanctioned by the IAU and developed over many years of planetary map-making. These lists are derived from a variety of published sources; see the reference section at the end of this glossary for citations of several key publications regarding planetary nomenclature.

1. General Terms on Solar System

Asteroid is a small body located in a heliocentric orbit that is usually located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter (see asteroid belt). The diameter of asteroids range from hundreds meters to ~1000 km. At the present time, more than 20,000 asteroids have been discovered. Precise orbits are known for about 5000 asteroids.

Asteroid belt is a region of heliocentric space from 2.1 to 4.3 astronomical units that includes the majority of asteroids.

Asteroid family is a concentration of asteroids with similar orbital properties. Asteroids are thought to have a common origin; that is, they are remnants of objects that failed to accrete into a planet. More than fifty families represent about 40 % all asteroids. The largest family has 259 members. Quite often the mass of the largest member of a set is much greater of total mass of all remaining members of the family.

Comet is a small ice-rich body in heliocentric orbit with a diameter that ranges from hundreds of meters to several kilometers, orbiting the sun in nearly parabolic paths. When they approach close to the Sun, a comet forms a “tail” of gas and dust vaporized off the solid nucleus. Comets are subdivided into long-period comets and short-period comets, depending on the duration of their orbital period. The following basic elements refer to the structure of a comet: a nucleus (the solid central core), a photometric nucleus (the visible bright dusty region immediately surrounding the nucleus), a coma that makes the “head” of the comet, and a “tail” of gas and dust.

Cometary nucleus is a rigid body likely consisting of a conglomerate of refractory rigid particles (olivine, pyroxene, etc.) and “frozen” volatile components (ice, organic substances, hydrates etc.). The diameter ranges from 0.5 to 20 km. For example, the nucleus of comet Halley, measured by space vehicles, is characterized by low density (~0.6 g/cm3), a mass of ~3 X 1017 g, and three axial dimensions of 7.5 +/- 0.8 km, 8.2 +/- 0.8 km, and 16.0 +/- 1.0 km.

Comparative planetology is a direction of a science investigating small and planetary Solar system bodies, their structure, history of development and processes, which have resulted in current state and support their further development.

Deep space is all space outside the magnetosphere of the Earth. Sometimes this term is used for designation of all space outside of Earth’s orbit.

Extraterrestrial object is located off the Earth, and has a solid surface or separate segments of a rigid surface.

Families of comets is designated by aphelion distance of comet orbits that are near to the orbital distance of various gas-giant planets. Sets of planetary comets are known for Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The transition from one comet family into another is possibly due to gravitational disturbances during close encounters with planets.

Galilean satellites are the four largest satellites of Jupiter (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto), discovered by Italian scientist Galileo Galilei in 1610.

Geomorphology is a science about the forms on the surface of a planetary and small Solar system bodies considering a classification, origin both development of the relief features and their relationship with geological structures.

Geologic time scale is sequence, built in the chronological order for events of a geological history of planetary bodies and intervals of time, appropriate to them. The geological time scale integrates two various types of scales: chronometric or geochronologic, based on units of duration (periods) and chronostratigraphic, which represents chronological sequence of rocks mountain.

Inferior planets The planets Mercury and Venus are inferior planets because their orbits are closer to the Sun than is Earth’s orbit.

Irregular satellite is a satellite with an eccentric (non-circular), often inclined orbit, which indicates that it was captured into its present orbit. Orbits of irregular satellites usually have the objects relatively far from their central planet. At Jupiter, the irregular satellites form two groups. The first (internal) group is within a distance of 160 RJ (radii of Jupiter) and is characterized by an eccentricity e > 0.15 and orbital inclination i > 28°. The second (external) group is outside a distance of 360 RJ, with e > 0.25 and i > 150°. Some satellites of Saturn (such as Phoebe) and one satellite of Neptune (Nereid) are also irregular satellites.

Leading hemisphere is the hemisphere that faces forward, into the direction of motion of a satellite that keeps the same face toward the planet. (to item 1

Minor planets. Another term used for asteroids.

Near Space (that is space near the Earth) is usually associated with the magnetosphere of the Earth. Sometimes it is understood to be all pf deep space within the limits of Earth’s orbit.

Outer planets (gas-giant planets) are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. They differ from terrestrial planets by their larger sizes and lower mean densities, as well as chemical and internal structural differences. About 99.6 % of the total mass of all the planets is contained within the gas-giant planets. Principal components of the dense atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn are hydrogen and helium. Uranus and Neptune contain mostly hydrogen, helium and methane. The gas-giant planets have numerous satellites. All of these planets are circled by rings that consist of small solid particles.

Planet is a celestial body orbiting around the Sun, held by the solar gravitational field and reflecting solar light. Today nine planets are known in the Solar System. Many planets, with the exceptions of Mercury and possibly Pluto, have a gaseous envelope or atmosphere. Also, most planets have satellites, except for Mercury and Venus. Based on the physical characteristics, chemical composition and internal structure, the planets are divided into two groups: terrestrial planets and gas-giant planets.

Planetary body is an object described by the approximately spherical form (shape) that it assumes under the hydrostatic force produced by gravity associated with its mass. The planets, large satellites of planets and the largest asteroids all can fall within a class of planetary bodies prescribed by a mostly spherical shape. Also sometimes called a planetoid.

Planetesimal is a hypothetical solid celestial body that accumulated during the last stages of accretion, as part of the formation of a larger planetary body.

Regular satellite is a satellite within a miniature “solar system” orbiting about the three largest gas-giant planets. They include the four Galilean satellites of Jupiter, eight satellites of Saturn, and five satellites of Uranus. Orbits of regular satellites, as a rule, are nearly circular and lie near the equator of their central planet. It is believed that the systems of regular satellites formed under processes similar to those that resulted in the formation of the Solar System as a whole.

Satellite is a body in orbit around another larger body (such as a planet or star).

Solar system describes all material substance and deep space included within the sphere of the gravitational attraction of the Sun. This includes the Sun, the planetary system, asteroids, comets, and all gas and dust that is gravitationally bound to the Sun. The effective edge of the solar system corresponds to distances from the Sun where the gravitational perturbations of passing stars are of comparable magnitude to the gravitational pull of the Sun itself.

Space is all space located beyond the Earth and its atmosphere or, more precisely, outside the ionosphere. Accordingly, the magnetosphere bounding the ionosphere is already part of deep space. Also applies to terms such as near space or deep space.

Stratigraphy is 1. Area of geology engaging problems of historical sequence of primary relationships and geographical distribution of formations composing planetary body crust and reflecting stages, its nature of development. 2. The description on bedding sequence of geological formations of that or other region.

Terminator The dividing line between the illuminated and the unilluminated part of the moon’s or a planet’s disk. (To item 1)

Trailing hemisphere The hemisphere that faces backwards, away from the direction of motion of a satellite that keeps the same face toward the planet. (To item 1)

Terrestrial planets are planets with the physical characteristics, chemical composition and internal structure similar to the Earth. Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars belong to this category. The terrestrial planets have 0.4% of the total mass of all the planets in the Solar System. Some large satellites of planets are also similar to the characteristics of the terrestrial planets, and may be considered to be members of this group that are in orbit about a larger planet.

2. Special Terms on Planetary Cartography

Cartographic materials for planetary cartography include maps such as general geographic, thematic, special, and topographic maps, and atlases such as photographic, specialized and complex (or integrated), globes, and different models of celestial bodies.

Cartographic organizations on planetary cartography are groups of experts engaged in extraterrestrial mapping, such as Working Groups and Commissions in international unions, and experts on national committees or budget organizations for separate countries (e.g., the Commission on Planetary Cartography in the ICA).

Cartographic sources for planetary cartography, these include materials from a space survey, materials from ground-based telescopic observations, and all graphic, digital and text data used for drawing and updating maps.

Cartometry (map measurements) in planetary cartography is a section of cartography of extraterrestrial objects that includes methods of measurement on maps of lengths, areas, angles, volumes, etc. Also can include calculation of the statistical distribution of separate relief features.

Extraterrestrial Cartography is mapping of all objects located off the Earth (e.g., celestial star charts, maps of sun spots, etc.).

History of planetary cartography investigates problems connected to the origin and evolution of the mapping process for solar system bodies.

Nomenclature on planetary cartography is a system of names for features on planetary surfaces (including relief features).

Planetary Cartography includes all cartographic materials produced for objects with solid surfaces external to the Earth. This can include any spatially mapped characteristic (e.g., topography, geology, and geophysical properties) for extraterrestrial surfaces. Also can be referred to as the Cartography of Extraterrestrial Objects (CEO).

Transcription in planetary cartography is a system of special phonetic sounds used to aid the correct pronunciation of the sounds associated with various names.

Transliteration in planetary cartography is the use of geographical names for objects on extraterrestrial territories, written in one alphabet as an aid to understanding the name in another alphabet.

3. Cartographic Products
(General Terms characterized Planetary Cartography Products)

Albedo map shows the measured difference in surface reflectivity from the surface of celestial body.

Atlas is a special collection of images of a celestial body surface. The images may be from either ground-based or spacecraft sources. Usually a single scale or set of scales is used throughout the atlas. Atlases can have specific themes (e.g., photographic, specialized to certain problems, thematic, etc.).

Complex (integrated) atlas of groups of celestial bodies is a systematic collection of maps of a group of celestial bodies (e.g., the terrestrial planets, satellites of the gas-giant planets, etc.), giving a capability for the analysis of the collected information through comparative planetology.

Geochemical map shows the distribution of chemical elements or minerals on the surface of a celestial body.

Geologic map is a graphic representation generalizing the geological history of the area covered by the map. It includes information on the structure, distribution, age, and genetic type of rocks on the surface of the celestial body.

Geologic/morphologic map shows the spatial distribution of geologic, geomorphologic, and tectonic features on a celestial body.

Geomorphic map is a graphic representation of the distribution of surface morphological types portrayed in the landforms on a planetary body. Geomorphic maps do not attempt to infer the geologic history of the rocks themselves, but rather the processes that have generated the present surface features.

Geophysical map shows a variety of geophysical information in a spatial representation (such as gravimetric, seismic, and magnetic anomaly maps).

Globe is cartographic representation of the surface of a planetary body on a three-dimensional shape (which can be spherical or non-spherical, such as a tri-axial ellipsoid), preserving the geometric similarity of both locations and outlines features. Globes of spherical planets and irregular objects (e.g., the Martian moon Phobos, the asteroid Eros) have been produced from imaging and remote sensing data obtained from a variety of sources.

Hypsometric map
 shows the macro-relief features on a planetary surface (for maps produced in Russia). The relief is represented by means of contours or isolines (to show areas at the same relative elevation), and color-coded contour intervals. In other countries, this term can also describe the distribution of elevations on the extraterrestrial object.

Landing site map in planetary cartography is a graphic representation of the region surrounding the site where a spacecraft came to rest on a planetary surface (generally shown at large scale).

Map in planetary cartography is a generalized image of the surface of an extraterrestrial solid body (excluding the Earth), that indicates the location of objects projected mathematically according to the adopted coordinate system used for the projection. Symbols can represent any subject, phenomena or process chosen by the cartographer to be illustrated on the map (a legend defining all symbols should be included to aid the map user). Maps of extraterrestrial territories represent all solar system bodies, with the exception of the Earth; they can be portrayed in a variety of forms, such as electronic (e.g., digital), conventional (printed), multilingual, orthophoto, drawing (e.g., shaded relief), outline, topographic (contoured), and thematic.

Outline map in planetary cartography is a map representing relief with the help of outlines and special symbols. These maps are used as base-maps for thematic and schematic mapping, which allows the user to link visually a represented attribute with a relief feature on the surface.

Physical properties map is a maps of various measured attributes of the extraterrestrial surface, such as albedo (see albedo, in this section), thermal anomalies (e.g., the distribution of hotspots on the Earth-facing hemisphere of the Moon), and polarimetric measurements.

Synoptic map in planetary cartography is a graphic representation of attributes (e.g., pressure, temperature, etc.) that describe the weather above a planetary surface (e.g., a map of weather on Mars).

Tectonic map in planetary cartography is a graphic representation of structural elements related to the tectonic history of the upper crust of a planetary body. The different structural areas and their separate elements (e.g., faults and folds) are shown by various symbols; when combined with a geologic map, data regarding the age and type of rocks comprising the structural elements are given, along with their development in time.

Thematic map in planetary cartography is a map showing the spatial representation of physical properties for a planetary surface (e.g., hypsometric, geophysical, geologic-morphologic, and geochemical maps).

Terrain map in planetary cartography is a graphic representation of the distribution of boundaries between mapped regions on the planetary body, showing the presence or absence of characteristic details of a surface (e.g., impact craters, hills, faults, lava flows, aeolian cover, etc). Such maps are usually produced by data obtained by remote sensing. See also geologic/morphologic map, photogeologic map.

4. Planetary Mapping

4.1 General descriptions related to planetary mapping

Extraterrestrial mapping is the process of the creation of cartographic products of all objects beyond the surface of the Earth. This includes mapping of planets, moons, asteroids, and small or irregularly shaped objects (e.g., a comet nucleus).

Meteorology mapping is weather maps (e.g., those related to climate) of solar system bodies involves the creation of thematic maps that describe various climatic conditions (e.g., temperature, pressure, cloud conditions at a given time) on these celestial bodies.

Complex (integrated) mapping for solar system bodies, this involves the creation of versatile cartographic products that represent the various characteristics of these bodies, which can be used in comparative planetology.

Cartography for extraterrestrial territories, this includes the development of special projections for the maps, with allowance for selecting the best surface on which to represent these objects (e.g., triaxial ellipsoid, oblate spheroid, etc.).

Glossary Contents

4.2. Descriptive terms for features shown on planetary maps

4.2.1. Latin=English translation of terms

Albedo Features = albedo features.

Catena = chainCavus = hollowChaos = canyonCollis = hill.

Crater = craterChasma = canyonCorona = ring.

Dorsum = ridge.

Facula = light spotFarrum = pancake like structureFlexus = bend, twist, windingFluctus = flowFossa = furrow.

Labes = landslideLabyrinthus = mazeLacus = lakeLinea = lineLarge Ring Feature only in English.

Macula = dark spotMare = seaMons = mountainMensa = mesa.

Oceanus = ocean.

Palus = swamp, marshPatera = pateraPlanitia = plainPlanum = plateau.

Plume = Eruptive Center both in EnglishPromontorium = cape.

Regio = regionRupes = rupes.

Scopulus = scarpSinus = baySulcus = groove.

Terra = terraTessera = tileTholus = dome.

Unda = wave.

Vallis = valleyVastitas = great plain.

4.2.2. Terms for features on solid planetary surfaces. Terms unique are given in bold letter

Albedo Features, Crater, Dorsum, Mons, Planitia, Rupes, Vallis.

Chasma, CollisCorona, Crater, Dorsum, FarrumFluctus, Fossa, LabyrinthusLinea, Mons, Patera, Planitia, Planum, Regio, Rupes, Terra, Tessera, Tholus – Unda, Vallis.

Albedo, Feature, Catena, Cavus, Chaos, Chasma, Collis, Dorsum, Fossa, Labes, Labyrinthus, Mensa, Mons, Patera, Planitia, Planum, Rupes, Scopulus, Sulcus, Terra, Tholus, Undae, Vallis.

Phobos – Crater, Dorsum.
Deimos – Crater.

Albedo Feature, Crater, Dorsum, Fossa, LacusMare, Mons, OceanusPalus, Planitia, PromontoriumSinus, Vallis.

Jupiter Satellites.
Amalthea – Crater, Facula.
Callisto – Crater, Catena, Large Ring Feature.
Europa – Chaos, Crater, Large Ring FeatureFlexus.
Io – Catena, Eruptive Center, Fluctus, Mensa, Mons, Patera, Planum, Tholus.
Ganymede – Catena, Crater, Facula, Fossa, Regio, Sulcus.
Thebe – Crater.

Saturn Satellites
Enimetius – Crater.
Janus – Crater.
Hyperion – Crater, Dorsum.
Mimas – Crater, Chasma.
Enceladus – Fossa, Planitia, Sulcus.
Tethus – Crater, Chasma.
Dione – Crater, Chasma, Linea.
Rhea – Crater, Chasma.
Iapetus – Crater, Regio, Terra.
Phoebe – Regio.

Uranus Satellites.
Puck -Crater.
Ariel – Crater, Chasma, Vallis.
Umbriel – Crater.
Titania – Crater, Chasma, Rupes.
Oberon – Crater, Chasma.
Miranda – Crater, Corona, Regio, Rupes, Sulcus.

Neptun Satellites.
Proteus – Crater.
Triton – Crater, Catena, Cavus, Dorsum Fossa, Macula, Patera, Planitia, Planum, Plume, Regio, Sulcus.

Eros – Crater, Dorsum, Regio.
Ida – Crater,Dorsum, Regio.
Gaspra – Crater, Regio.
Dactil – Crater.
Matilda -Crater.

Glossary Contents

5. General Descriptions related to Geologic and Morphological Terms for features on Planetary Surfaces

Latin singular (Latin plural) – description

5.1 Terms having been officially used in planetary nomenclature

Albedo Feature (Albedo Features) is some area characterized by reflective ability of the surface albedo feature.
A dark or light marking on the surface of an object that might not be a geological or topographical feature.

Catena (catenae) – a crater chain, or a string of closely spaced depressions.
Catena (Catenae) is a line-up or line of craters (chain of craters).
catena – A chain of craters.
Cavus (cavi) – an irregular, steep-sided depression that apparently is not of impact origin.
Cavus (Cavi) is a steep slope depression with irregular form in the plan. It is usually located by groups (in polar areas)
cavus – A hollows, irregular depression.
Chaos – a discreet region of disrupted or broken terrain.
Chaos (Chaos) is a characteristic region of a destruction relief
chaos – A distinctive area of broken terrain.
Chasma (chasmata) – a steep-walled trough or large canyon
Chasma (Chasmata) is a steep slope linear depression. Canyon ( canyons) in English chasma A canyon
Collis (colles) – a small hill, usually round in the plan form.
Collis (Colles ) is a small height form usually round in the plan and formed accumulations. Hill (hills) in English
colles – A small hill or knob.
Corona (coronae) – large circular feature enclosed by a ring of concentric ridges and furrows.
Corona (Coronae) is ring-type structure of diameter approximately from 150 up to 600 kms formed by a system of concentric ridges and furrows and having in the plan the form of a circle or an oval. It is supposed, that their formation is connected with “bleed” dome like raisings above hotspots. For the first time the rings of this kind are chosen and circumscribed on Venus, where they are widely widespread. The rings of other genesis are known on satellites of Saturn, Jupiter. A synonym is an ovoid. Ring in English.
corona – The upper level of the solar atmosphere, characterized by low densities and high temperatures (> 1.0E+06 K); it is not visible from the Earth except during a total eclipse of the sun or by use of special telescopes called coronagraphs. 2) An ovoid-shaped feature.
Crater (craters) – bowl-like to flat-floored depression, usually surrounded by steep walls.
Crater is a bowl like depression on a surface of a planetary or small of a Solar system body. Depending on a way of formation they can be impact, explosive, volcanic etc
crater 1) A depression formed by the impact of a meteorite. 2) A depression around the orifice of a volcano.

Dorsum (dorsa) – a topographic ridge or other elongated, raised structure.
Dorsum (Dorsa) is a linear height with irregular form in the plan . Ridge (ridges) in English.
Dorsum is a positive linear extended form of a relief (elevation) on a surface of a planetary Solar system body . Dorsacan be of the various sizes and various structure (steep slopes and flat slopes), extended or short etc. Ridge (ridges in English).
dorsum – A ridge

Eruptive Center

Facula is a bright region.
Flexus – a very low curvilinear ridge consisting from arcuate bands.
Flexus (flexus) is
flexus – A cuspate linear feature
Fluctus (flucti) – a complex association of digitate (flow-like) features emanating from a common source location or feature.
fluctus – A flow terrain
Fossa (fossae) – a long, narrow, shallow depression or a narrow, linear trench.
Fossa (Fossae) is a linear downturn on a surface of a small or planetary Solar system body. Furrows can be resulted by tectonic or impact deformations or in an outcome of deleting of a material of rocks mountain under effect of exsogenic processes (for example, furrows of blowing out in yardangs). Furrow (furrows) in English.
Fossa is a long, narrow, superficial depression. They are usually located by groups. They can be rectilinear or curved but not twisting. Furrow (furrows) in English.
fossa – A long, narrow, shallow depression.

labes – A landslide.
Large Ring Feature
Labyrinthus (labyrinthi) – a complex maze of intersected valleys or canyons.
Labyrinthus ( Labyrinthi) is a complex of intersected valleys (canyons). Maze ( mazes) in English.
labyrinthus – An intersecting valley complex.
Lacus (laci) – a low plain smaller than a mare, originally thought to be a lake.
Lacus (laci) -is a low plain smaller than a mare, originally thought to be a lake. Lake in English.
lacus – A lake.
Linea (lineae) – a linear feature; they can be dark or bright relative to their surroundings, and either curved or straight
Linea (lineae) – dark or light linear feature, which can be curved or straight.
Linea (Lineae) is a dark or light oblong relief feature, they can be curve or direct. Line (lines) in English.
linea – An elongate marking.

Macula (maculae) – a dark, irregular spot.
Macula (Maculae) is a dark spot, they can have an irregular form. Spot (spots) in English.
Mare (maria) is broad low plains surrounded by basin-forming mountains, originally thought to be a sea. Sea in English.
Mare (Maria) – broad low plains surrounded by basin-forming mountains, originally thought to be a sea.
Mare is a large low lands. Sea in English.
Mare – Latin word for “sea.” Galileo thought the dark featureless areas on the Moon were bodies of water, even though the Moon is essentially devoid of liquid water. The term is still applied to the basalt-filled impact basins common on the face of the Moon visible from Earth.
Mensa (mensae) – a flat-topped, steep-sided elevated feature.
Mensa (Mensae) is a height with a table top and break or terrace edges.
mensa – A mesa, flat-topped elevation.
Mons (montes) – a mountain.
Mons (Montes ) is a large height of relief (Mons) or chain of heights (Montes). Mountain ( mountains) in English.
mons – A mountain

Oceanus – a very large low plain (Oceanus Procellarum), originally thought to be an ocean.
Oceanus is a very large low plain, originally thought to be an ocean. Ocean in English.
oceanus – An ocean.
Ovoid (look at corona).
ovoid – Shaped like an egg.

Palus is some part of low land. Marsh in English.
palus – A swamp.
Patera (paterae) – a shallow crater with scalloped, complex walls or edges.
Patera (Paterae) is a crater of the irregular form or complex crater with toothed edges.
Patera is crater of any genesis with irregular or toothed edges. Patera is sometimes named a volcanic muzzle, enclosed with flows of the irregular form.
patera – Shallow crater; scalloped, complex edge.
Planitia – a low plain, or a large level expanse of lowlands.
Planitia (Planitiae) is an equal low area. Flatness (flatnesses) in English.
planitia – Broad plains that occupy lowlands on planetary surfaces.
Planum – a large elevated plateau or high plain.
Planum (Plana ) is an equal raised area. Plateau ( plateaus) in English.
planum – A plateau or high plain.
Plume, see Eruptive Center
Promontorium – part of the lunar highlands extending into an adjacent mare, originally thought to be a cape or promontory within a sea.
Promontorium is a part of the lunar highlands extending into an adjacent mare, originally thought to be a cape or promontory within a sea. A cape in English.
promontorium – A cape.

Regio (regiones) – a large region distinguished from nearby areas by color or albedo.
Regio (Regiones) is a large region distinguished from nearby ones on brightness or colour. Area ( areas) in English.
regio – Region.
Rupes (rupes) – one-sided terrace or break in the surface.
Rupes (Rupes) is a terrace or break relief feature.
rupes – The term applied to scarps on planetary surfaces; many scarps are thought to be the surface expression of faults within the crust of the planetary object.

 (scopuli) – a terrace or break in the surface, with serrated or very irregular plan form.
Scopulus (Scopuli ) is a complex terrace or break relief feature with toothed or very.
scopulus – A lobate or irregular scarp irregular in the plan form.
Sinus – a low plain only partially surrounded by mountains, originally thought to be a bay on a larger sea.
Sinus is a low plain only partially surrounded by mountains, originally thought to be a bay on a larger sea.
Sinus is a part of a very large low land. Bay in English.
Sinus – A bay.
Sulcus (sulci) – a complex region with subparallel furrows and ridges.
Sulcus (Sulci ) is a complex region of subparallel furrows and ridges.
sulcus– Subparallel furrows and ridges.

Terra (Terrae ) is a height with the crossed relief.
terra – An extensive land mass.
Terra (terrae) – elevated area with the complex relief (e.g., highlands).
Tessera (tesserae) – an elevated area of complex relief, crossed by lineations in two or more directions; having the appearance of a parquet tile pattern or drawing.
Tessera is type of district on Venus describing areas with development of heavy deformations, widespread on the significant area (from 10 in 5grade up to 10 in 6grade km). The structural drawing of its surface is formed by systems which are represented by intersected, less often sub-parallel ridges and dividing by their valleys. The characteristic distance between crests of adjacent ridges makes on the average 10-12 km. Tesserae represent, as a rule, territories elevated rather lava flatness, often limited on edges by shelf. They have not morphological analogs on the Earth.
tessera – A tile; polygonal ground.
Tholus (tholi) – a small domed hill.
Tholus (Tholi) is a separate small dome like mountain or hill. Dome (domes) in English.
tholus– A small domical mountain or hill.

Unda (Undae) is hard (solid) wave in relief.

Vallis (valles) – a valley.
Vallis (Valles ) is twisting hollow, it has frequently inflow. Valley (valleys) in English.
vallis– A sinuous valley.
Vastitas – an extensive flat plain (in the northern hemisphere of Mars).
Vastitas (Vastitates) is a flatness very extensive on the area. Great plain (great flatnesses) in English.
Vastitas – A widespread lowland.

5.2. Terms not yet having been used in planetary nomenclature

Arachnoid – a radial-circular structure with a “spider-like” pattern, generally from 70 to 250 km in diameter. They usually have a central locus, enclosed by one to three broad concentric shafts and narrow radial ridges. Arachnoids on Venus are interpreted to have an endogenous origin. A variation on the more common corona features on Venus.

Astrobleme – geological structure on the Earth generated by a hypervelocity impact (e.g., see crater).

Basin – a very large impact structure with a system of concentric walls. They generally form the topographic lows on the surfaces of many solar system bodies.

Bajada – a broad extended alluvial slope, or a gently inclined surface. Formed by extended periods of sheetwash erosion in an arid environment.

Bench – a terrace or one-sided break in a planetary surface.

Block – rock debris or breccia accumulation of rock fragments, generally >1 m in size.

Boulder – rock debris or breccia accumulation of rock fragments, generally >10 cm to 1 m in size. In the literature the term is often used for non-rounded fragments, all of similar size.

Caldera – a circular depression with steep walls and relatively level floor, reaching dimensions greater than many tens of kilometers. Usually associated with the collapse of the roof above a volcano magma chamber. The largest volcanic calderas (diameter more than 100 km) are known on Venus (e.g., Mockoshi Mons) and on Mars (e.g., Olympus Mons, etc.).

Central volcano – a volcano at which eruptions form an intermixed accumulation of lava and ash debris around a central vent. Also known as composite volcanoes.

Cliff – a rocky shelf or bench. Cliffs occur on steep to vertical slopes, or even above overhangs. They usually occur in mountainous areas, but also are by the shores of lakes or rivers. Such slopes, as a rule, grow out of erosion or faulting processes.

Comparative planetology – the scientific investigation of solar system bodies, their structure, history of development, and the processes that have resulted in their current surface conditions.

Corona – a circular structure with a diameter of from 150 to 600 km, formed by a system of concentric ridges and furrows and having a plan form of a circle or oval. Their formation is believed to be related to plume upwelling above a hotspot. Originally identified on Venus, where they are quite common, these structures may also exist on other planetary surfaces.

Crater – a bowl-shaped depression on the surface of a planetary body. Craters occur on all sizes of objects, from individual rocks to planets. Craters are most often the result of a hypervolocity impact, but they may also be the product of a volcanic explosion or a collapse.

Crater rim – circular elevated terrain surrounding a crater, with internal slopes in fresh impact craters that are much steeper than the external slopes.

Depression – any portion of the surface of a solar system body that is lower in elevation than its surroundings, regardless of origin. The term has a wide potential use, and it may be used instead of the more specific terms such as basin, crater, furrow, etc.

Dune – a low hill or ridge, which may be asymmetric with a shallower slope on the upwind side, comprised of granular wind-blown, sand-sized material (or possibly of volcanic ash). Active dunes are capable of moving along the prevailing direction of the wind, preserving its characteristic form during transport.

Fault – a discontinuity in rock or sediment, along which noticeable displacement has occurred. Depending on depth, these breaks are usually subdivided between steep near-surface (crustal) discontinuities, and deep-seated (sub-crustal) breaks. Upon expansion, the breaks are subdivided into local, regional and trans-regional scales. Faults also can be subdivided based on the duration of development, whether inherited from a previous zone of weakness, newly formed, or reactivated.

Fissure volcano
 – a volcano formed along a crack or linear vent. The eruption can occur all along the associated fissure, or only along separate segments of the fissure. These eruptions usually are associated with extensive flows of lava. This is a common form of eruption for fluid basaltic lavas on the terrestrial planets.

Furrow – a linear depression in the surface of a solar system body. Furrows can be the result of tectonic or impact deformation, or as a result of exogenic processes (e.g., erosional furrows in yardangs).

Graben – a tectonic linear depression in the surface of a planetary body, usually formed by paired faults with a lowered floor between the faults. Fault length along a graben is always significantly greater than the width of the structure.

Geomorphology – the science of describing the shape and origin of landforms. It can involve quantitative and qualitative descriptions and classifications, as well as various interpretations of the possible origins of the landform.

Geologic time scale – the chronological sequence for events, and their associated time scales, for the geological history of planetary objects. Geologic time involves two types of time scales: chronometric or geochronologic, based on measured intervals of time (periods) derived from laboratory analysis of rock samples, and chronostratigraphic, which represents chronological sequence of rock emplacement.

Interdune valley – a hollow between adjacent sand dunes or sand ridges.

Lava flow – rock formed by solidification of molten lava which has erupted from one or more vents in the surface. A lava flow is characterized by a digitate or lobate planform that extends in the direction of flow. The shape and thickness of a lava flow is affected by the type of eruptive vent (e.g., point source or linear vent), volume and effusion rate of the erupted lava, the material structure and chemistry of the lava, and the topographic relief over which it flowed.

Lineament – any linear formation on the surface of a solar system object. Sometimes lineaments represent any linear feature of undetermined origin observed on images, as opposed to precise feature terms (e.g., ridges, valleys, etc).

Lunar highlands – relatively high albedo, elevated, heavily cratered terrain on the Moon. The lunar highlands comprise most of the lunar far side (the side never visible from Earth), and they represent >80 % of the total surface area of the Moon.

Lunar Maria – relatively low albedo, low-lying, more lightly cratered terrain on the Moon. The Maria consist of lavas that have flooded the floors of the largest impact basins on the Moon. They are mainly found on the Earth-facing side of the Moon, representing about 1/3 of the surface visible from Earth, but Maria are relatively rare on the lunar far side (the side never visible from Earth).

Meander – the sinuous path of a river on a shallow-sloped flood plain, consisting of the loops and turns produced by the unconstrained wandering of the river channel.

Mesa – an isolated, flat-topped elevated region surrounded by abrupt erosive cliffs.

Microcrater – small impact crater, ranging from micrometers to several centimeters in diameter. Microcraters are abundant on the rocks and surface of any airless body.

Normal fault – a break in the crust of a rocky object resulting from extensional forces so that the rocks above the fault plane have moved down relative to the rocks below the fault plane.

Ovoid – see corona (and section 4.2.3).

Peneplain – a relatively flat erosion surface that approaches being a perfect plain as a result of very long periods of erosion with little tectonic deformation.

Ridge – a positive-relief linear feature on any solid surface. Ridges can be of various sizes and origins.

Rift – a break in the surface of a planetary body of regional or global extent. Rifts are considerably larger structures than graben. The formation of rifts is characteristic of large planetary bodies displaying considerable endogenic activity.

Rille – an extended crack, up to several hundred km in length, generally from 2 to 5 km in width, and with depths up to 0,5 km. Rilles are common features on the surface of the Moon, and are present on several of the terrestrial planets. They can have irregular twisting planform, or be rather straight or rectilinear.

Scarp – any topographic break with one side higher than the other (equivalent to cliff).

Shield volcano – a volcanic construction of a central type formed by repeated effusion of very fluid (usually basaltic) lava. The shield is characterized by a shallow flank, the steepness of which can vary from a high of 7° to 8°, to a low of >1°, but with typical values of ~5°. There often are one or more caldera craters near the summit, like broad saucer-shaped cavities with steep walls. One of the largest shield volcanoes in the solar system is Olympus on Mars, with a diameter greater than 500 km and total relief of 25 km.

Stratigraphy – the science of the description, correlation, and classification of strata in sedimentary rocks, including the interpretation of the depositional environments of those strata. In planetary mapping, volcanic and metamorphic rocks are also included in a relative stratigraphic interpretation of the sequence of emplacement of all mapped rocks.

Terrace – any narrow, nearly horizontal surface, usually with a distinct cliff or termination on one or more sides. Terraces are sometimes subdivided depending on their genesis and structure.

Wrinkle ridge – an extended system of gently sloping, often sinuous ridges, with lengths exceeding tens to hundreds of km, widths of several to tens of km, and elevations up to several hundred meters. Wrinkle ridges are usually found on the volcanic plains, but their origin has been attributed to both tectonic and volcanic processes.

Yardang – an elongated form produced by prolonged wind erosion. On Earth, yardangs they are observed to have relief of up to hundreds of meters and lengths of up to many kilometers. They are formed by wind erosion on indurated rocks capable of holding steep erosional walls, and they are oriented parallel to the direction of prevailing winds.

6. Terms related to thematic planetary cartography

Albedo is a measure of surface reflectance, usually expressed as a number between 0 (no reflection) and 1 (complete reflection of all incident energy). Albedo can vary depending on the wavelength of incident radiation. Specific constraints on the way the reflected energy is measured can lead to terms such as geometric and spherical albedo, both of which are widely used in planetary photometry.

Geoid is the height of a natural surface can be expressed as being above or below a mathematical surface representing a gravitational equipotential surface, or geoid. The geoid of Earth can be expressed in the shape of a sphere of revolution.

Height of the geoid is size of deviation of a surface of a geoid from a spheroid of rotation.

Hot spot Center of persistent volcanism, thought to be the surface expression of a rising hot plume in Earth’s mantle

Geoid is such a surface of equal values of a gravity potential on the Earth conterminous to a undisturbed surface of World ocean and continued under the oceans.

Isostasy is The mechanism whereby areas of the crust rise or subside until the mass of their topography is buoyantly supported or compensated by the thickness of crust below, which “floats” on the denser mantle. Isostatic gravity anomalies are derived from the assumption that the gravitational effect of the mass associated with the surface topography is approximately compensated by a deficit of either the density or the subsurface thickness of the crustal material.

Isostatic anomaly is anomaly of gravity calculated proceeding from the supposition, that gravitational effect of weights located above of levels on a surface of a planetary body (on the Earth sea level), is approximately compensated by a deficit on density of a material under these weights.

Leading hemisphere The hemisphere that faces forward, into the direction of motion of a satellite that keeps the same face toward the planet. (To item 1)

Mascon is positive gravitational anomaly on Earth’s Moon, spatially associated with the largest circular mare. Mascons are observable when an orbiting spacecraft’s speed in orbit around the Moon is altered by the increased gravitational attraction produced by a buried concentration of mass within a mare area. First described after monitoring the orbits of the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft in the 1960s, the term “mascon” is the concatenation of the two English words “mass concentration” (e.g., an enhanced concentration of mass relative to the surrounding lunar terrain).

Mascons are positive gravitational anomalies on the Moon spatially connected to the largest seas of circular outlines. ?ascons are chosen on observations over speed of motion on orbit of artificial lunar satellites of a series “Lunar Orbiter”. A term “mascon” is an English abbreviation from mass concentration ( concentration of weights).

Polarimetry (polarimetric method of determination of an albedo) is based on relation of an albedo to change of polarization of ambient light with a phase angle (a).

Polarization A special property of light; light has three properties, brightness, colour and polarization.

Regolith The layer of rocky debris and dust made by meteoritic impact that forms the uppermost surface of planets, satellites and asteroids.

Volatile Compounds with low melting temperatures, such as hydrogen, helium, water, ammonia, carbon dioxide and methane.

7.0. Selected references related to planetary glossary and nomenclature subjects

Atlas planet zemnoi gruppy i ih sputnikov. Bugaevsky L.M., Shingareva K.B., Krasnopevtseva B.V., et all. Moskwa, MIIGAiK, 1992.

Bakich, M.E. The Cambridge planetary handbook. Cambridge University Press, (Cambridge, UK and New York, USA), 336 p., 2000.

Batson R.M., Bridges P.M. and Inge J.L. Atlas of Mars. The 1:5,000,000 map series. NASA Special Publication 438, U. S. Gov. Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 146 p., 1979.

Berlyant A.M., Gedymin A.B., et al. Spravochnik po kartographii (Reference book on cartogrpahy). Red. E.I. Halugin, Moskwa, Nedra, 428 p., 1988.

Bugaevsky L.M. Mathmatichskaya cartographiya (Mathematicc cartography). Moskwa, Zlatoutst, 399 p., 1998.

Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature. International Astronomical Union:

Russell J.F., Snyder C.W. and Kieffer H.H. Appendix: Origin and use of Martian nomenclature in Mars. H.H. Kieffer, B.M. Jakosky, C.W. Snyder, and M.S. Matthews, Eds., pp. 1305-1314, Univ. of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1992.

Salischev K.A. Osnovy Kartovedeniya (Basis of map studying), Moskwa, Geodezizdat, 1962.

Sluta E.N., Ivanov AB, Ivanov M.A. Sravnitel’naya planetologiya. Osnovnye ponyaniya, terminy i opredeleniya, Moskwa, Nauka, 1995.

Sovetskii eciklopedicheskii slovar (Soviet encyclopediacal glossary). Red. A.M. Prokhorov, Moskwa, 1988.

Terms and Definitions in Solar system:

Yaschenko V.R., Bol’shakov V.D., Drazhnyuk A.A., et al. Geodesiya I kartographiya na sovremennom etape razvitiya (Geodesy and cartography on the current state of development), 1919-1989, Moskwa, Nedra, 1989.

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The Queen needs your code-breaking help!

An Enigma machine rotor

An Enigma machine rotor. Copyright Simon Singh

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will visit Bletchley Park today to unveil a memorial to the codebreakers who played a vital role in the second world war. To celebrate their visit the Queen has challenged UK children aged between 13 and 16 to crack six secret messages. Visit the British Monarchy Website to download the code book and get started!

You can read more about Bletchley Park, the enigma machine and cryptography on Plus and learn more about codebreaking and the enigma machine from The Enigma Project.

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The Travels of ‘The American Disease’ in China

Editor’s Note: We close our symposium, fittingly, with a post from Yong-an Zhang, Director of the David F. Musto Center for Drug Policy Studies and Professor of History at Shanghai University. He was a visiting fellow of the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies (CNAPS) at the Brookings Institution and a visiting professor of History of Medicine at Yale University’s School of Medicine. Dr. Zhang’s research interests include the social history of drugs and medicine, international drug control policy, drug diplomacy, and China’s drug control strategy. He is the author of Policy Choice in Changing Society: A Study on American Marijuana Policy (2009); Asia, International Drug Trafficking, and U.S.-China Counternarcotics Cooperation (2012); and co-author of China’s Urban Health Risk and Social Governance (2012).

In the fall of 1999, I was participating in a seminar on Modern Chinese History by Professor Cheng Shuwei in the Department of History at Northeast Normal University. This seminar led me to understand that opium and other drugs had played a very special role in Modern Chinese History. As a graduate student of American history, I became convinced that I needed to understand the role that drugs played in American society, and how the U.S. government, civil society, and the public responded to the world’s first global commodity. When I myself raised these issues, I suddenly realized that I could not find satisfying answers in general texts on American history. On weekends, I started going to the Scholar Bookstore to look for books that would help me. Then one weekend—to my great surprise as the book had not been there when I’d looked the previous weekend—I found a recently published book: Meiguo Jindu Shi (The American Disease: Origin of Narcotic Control).

Meiguo Jindu Shi (1999)
Meiguo Jindu Shi (1999)

The Chinese version was based on the third English edition and had been published by Beijing University Press that very year. After briefly browsing the contents, I knew it was the book I was looking for. I immediately bought it and finished reading it that weekend. To my mind, it is full of novel wisdom in almost every chapter, every section, and even each page. Professor Musto was familiar with all of the relevant archives and primary materials—nothing was recycled, nothing second-hand.

According to my perspective, the Chinese version of The American Disease should have been the first classic manuscript to be translated and published in China. It offers a comprehensive account of drug use and government drug policy from the 1860s to the 1990s; it explores the origins of narcotics control in international and domestic contexts; and it examines the interaction between politics, health, and ideology during the development of American drug policy. It casts the American concern with narcotics as “more than a medical or legal problem—it is in the fullest sense a political problem.” Furthermore, it explains the “energy that has given impetus to drug control and prohibition” as resulting from “profound tensions among socio-economic groups, ethnic minorities, and generations—as well as the psychological attraction of certain drugs.” More importantly, it opened my beginner’s eye to re-thinking the complex dynamics of American history, particularly medical history, social history, and constitutional history, through a new perspective.

Read More »

Remembering David Musto

Editor’s note: As has become apparent in this symposium, how individuals read The American Disease depends on when and where they first encountered the book. In today’s post, Caroline Jean Acker, author of Creating the American Junkie: Addiction Research in the Classic Era of Narcotic Control  (2002) reflects on how The American Disease played in the social world of street-level drug education and ethnography in the late 1970s.

On February 1, 1979, I walked into the office of Up Front Drug Information in Miami’s Coconut Grove, my first day on the job as Coordinator of the agency. Smaller and less well known than the Do It Now Foundation or the Student Association for the Study of Hallucinogens (STASH), Up Front shared these groups’ conviction that scare tactics did little to deter drug use once people found even one of their claims false.

Up Front’s desire to establish a street drug testing lab arose in 1978 due to the concerns of American consumers that they might have purchased Mexican marijuana sprayed with the herbicide paraquat. Up Front’s logo (lower left) was a stylized representation of a mescaline molecule designed by Leon Rosenblatt.
Up Front established a street drug testing lab in response to the concerns of American consumers that they might have purchased Mexican marijuana sprayed with the herbicide paraquat. Up Front’s logo (lower left) was a stylized mescaline molecule designed by Leon Rosenblatt.

Founded in 1973 by Tracy Brown, Up Front assumed that if people were going to use psychoactive drugs, they would be less likely to experience undesirable effects if they had accurate information about them. Lacking clear understanding of drug effects, they risked overdose and other untoward outcomes.  The organization maintained a small library (books ranged from Goodman and Gilman to Peter Stafford’s Psychedelics Encyclopedia; periodicals, from The New England Journal of Medicine to High Times), fielded questioners’ phone calls, developed and distributed pamphlets on drug effects and risks, managed a DEA-licensed anonymous street drug testing laboratory, and produced a small monthly magazine called Street Pharmacologist.

My first published writing appeared in this venue where, as editor, I accepted my own submissions. When I was hired, I knew little about psychoactive drugs, and Tracy set about educating me before he went off to law school.

Read More »

A Tribute to Patient Historical Diagnosis: The Doctor in ‘The American Disease’

Editor’s note: Like the other contributors to this symposium, Nancy D. Campbell celebrates the 40th anniversary of David F. Musto’s The American Disease by noting the book’s landmark status in her own intellectual journey. She is author of Using Women: Gender, Drug Policy and Social Justice (2000); Discovering Addiction: The Politics of Substance Abuse Research (2007); co-author with JP Olsen and Luke Walden of The Narcotic Farm: The Rise and Fall of America’s First Prison for Drug Addicts (2008); and co-author with Elizabeth Ettorre of Gendering Addiction: The Politics of Drug Treatment in a Neurochemical World (2011).

“We are, however, an impatient people.” Thus ended the Expanded Edition of The American Disease, which opened my eyes to the underlying history of the War on Drugs that was unfolding in the late 1980s. Musing about returning to graduate school from a vantage point high in the Coast Range in Mendocino County, California, I was riveted by the contradictions of the historical moment. On rare occasions when there was network reception at my remote outpost, the War on Drugs appeared to target pregnant, African-American women using crack-cocaine. Yet in the Emerald Triangle realities, there was paramilitary action against pot-growers. What was the War on Drugs, I wondered, if it meant so many things to so many people?

Scales fell from my eyes as I read The American Disease. So this was what historians did! They enabled ordinary people to make sense of the contradictions they inhabit. This was what drug policy was about—cycles of alternating tolerance and intolerance, fear and loathing, learning and unlearning. Through David Musto’s book, I thought I understood what all this demonization and marginalization was about. What more was there to say? Little did I foresee a career spent reading between the lines of a book that came out when I was 10 years old, announcing to my father’s med-school buddies that I would grow up to write a “history of the pill in America.”

David F. Musto hosts drug policy historians, young and experienced, at Yale in 1996.
David F. Musto (bottom left) hosts drug policy historians, young and experienced, at Yale in 1996. 1st row: David Musto, Stephen Kandall, Caroline Acker, Nancy Campbell, Mara Keire; 2d row: Tim Hickman, Rebecca Carroll, Sarah Tracy, Jennifer Gold, Susan Speaker, Peter Bourne; 3rd row: William White, Pamela Korsmeyer, Ann Blanken, Ruth Engs, David Courtwright; 4th row: Joseph Spillane, Jill Jonnes, John Burnham, –.

Read More »

Confessions of an Historian of Secrecy, Science, and the Self

Editor’s note: We continue our celebration of the 40th anniversary of the publication of David F. Musto’s book with a contribution from cultural historian and American Studies scholar Timothy A. Hickman, whose first book, The Secret Leprosy of Modern Days, reconstructs (and deconstructs) the entrepreneurial therapeutics of the late 19th century historical world inhabited by Dr. Leslie Keeley, proponent of the famous “Gold Cure” for inebriety. Hickman recounts grappling with Musto’s capacious framework in the context of a post-Foucauldian intellectual moment.

Most historians of drugs and alcohol get used to the question, “So how did you get interested in THAT topic,” usually punctuated by a cocked eyebrow and an arch chuckle. My interest arose during the popular recovery movement of the late 1980s, when I read “As Sick as Our Secrets,” a Summer 1990 LA Weekly article by writer Helen Knode, who detailed her family’s troubles with substance dependence over the years. I was particularly taken by her claim that, if one were to multiply the number of “addicts” by the number of “co-dependents” asserted by recovery writers, the product would exceed the entire US population!

The fonts were just a symptom.
Bad fonts were a symptom.

What fundamental beliefs might underwrite the diagnosis of the entire American population as “dysfunctional”? Whose interests were met in defining a whole population as a target for therapy? What institutions benefited? What did this state of affairs suggest about American society, and why did millions of people ‘Just Say Yes’ to the recovery movement’s call?  Still more pressingly, what kind of a “disease” required confession as the first step to cure?

Read More »

‘The American Disease’ Turns Forty

Editor’s Note: This spring marks 40 years since the first publication of The American Disease: Origins of Narcotic Control, the groundbreaking book by David F. Musto (1936-2010). In honor of this anniversary, Nancy D. Campbell has organized an online symposium at Points this week on Musto’s book and its impact, featuring leading drug historians. The symposium begins today with a reflection by David T. Courtwright, Presidential Professor of History at the University of North Florida. Courtwright discusses the origins and publishing history of The American Disease, and the role it played in his own career as a drug historian, which has produced such similarly lauded works as Addicts Who Survived: An Oral History of Narcotic Use in America, Dark Paradise: A History of Opiate Addiction in America, and Forces of Habit: Drugs and the Making of the Modern World.

In 1968 Dr. Stanley Yolles, the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, assigned a young physician named David Musto the task of investigating the history of the narcotic issue. Yolles was particularly interested in the narcotic clinics that briefly flourished in the early 1920s. Musto, then attached to the U.S. Public Health Service, dutifully began reading documents in the National Archives and the Library of Congress. He made two discoveries. The first was that almost no one before him had bothered to use archival sources. The second was that these sources did not line up with either the medical-reformist or police-enforcement versions of the past. “These ‘histories,’” Musto wrote, “appeared to be more in the nature of political party platforms than accurate descriptions of the process of narcotic control in the United States.”

This defect Musto corrected in The American Disease (1973), whose fortieth anniversary falls this year. What his book conveyed was the contingency and complexity of narcotic control. It untangled American drug policy’s serpentine roots, showing how narcotic abuse and addiction, diplomatic maneuvering, muckraking journalism, racial anxieties, pharmaceutical and medical lobbying, and moral entrepreneurship all affected early laws and treaties. Federalism further complicated the story. In the early twentieth century many Americans questioned whether and to what extent the federal government had jurisdiction over drug control. The matter ended up in the Supreme Court, which in 1919 narrowly upheld both the constitutionality of the Harrison Narcotic Act and federal prosecutions of individual physicians who wrote large numbers of prescriptions to maintain addicts’ habits.

Yale University Press ad for the 1973 edition of 'The American Disease'.
Yale University Press ad for the 1973 edition of ‘The American Disease’.

It was the constitutional questions that first led me to the book. In 1975 I was a Rice University graduate student in Harold Hyman’s legal history seminar. I was struggling to understand the ban on addict maintenance, which had only recently and grudgingly retreated before the methadone revolution. My first thought, as I thumbed through The American Disease, was one of disappointment. Someone had already published a big book—with Yale University Press, no less—on my intended subject.Read More »

Desperate Mothers, Only Sons: The ‘Moral Reformation’ of China’s Internet Addicted Youth

Points Desp Mothers 1
Chinese gamer Sky takes an oath of good sportsmanship during the opening ceremony of the World Cyber Games in Kunshan, China

I am writing this blog post from the 2012 World Cyber Games in Kunshan, China. This international competition for professional digital gaming, also known as e-sports, is an interesting setting from which to contemplate Chinese government efforts to draw strict divisions between nationally sanctioned e-sports and “unhealthy” and “addictive” Internet games.  Indeed, during the press conference prior to the start of the competition, one of the members of China’s General Administration of Sport shared a story about a conversation she had with the Vice Mayor of Kunshan city.  The Vice Mayor had noted that she originally intended to bring her son to the event, but her husband had forbidden it for fear that exposure to digital games would negatively impact his studies.  The Sport Administration official used this as an example of the image work still needed to train Chinese citizens to have the “proper” perspective on e-sports.  If only parents could understand the positive (the actual phrase she used was “sunny” or yangguang) impact of this particular form of gaming…. Compare this attitude to the concerned mothers depicted in these images drawn from the Chinese news media.

Points Desp Mothers 3

Points Desp Motheres 2
A mother wrestles her son to keep him from the Internet cafe

In the photograph above, drawn from the Chinese news media, a woman cries in the face of her despondent son,  despondent son responsive only to the stimulus of a game on a computer screen. In the photo to the right, a mother pins her son to the street to keep him away from an Internet café.  A third story in the news relates the tale of a mother who stabbed her own son in the leg with a knife because she could not stop him from running off to an Internet café to play games.  Rather than frame this incident as child abuse, the news anchor noted, “We can sympathize with the feelings of the parents, but we should not use disciplinary measures that are too violent.”  The frequency with which such acts of desperation appear in the press makes them seem almost natural, as the nonchalant response to this otherwise shocking incident of parental violence indicates.

A final portrait of maternal desperation that I would like to share with you is depicted in the 2007 film Net Mother.  This film, reportedly based upon true events, chronicles the valiant efforts of a handicapped mother who strives to connect with Internet addicted teens via instant messaging.  Having sustained terrible burns on her hands as a child, this mother overcomes her handicap and uses her story of struggle to convince young people to strive to overcome their own struggles with addiction.

Net Mother opens with a montage of scenes from China’s countryside: a farmer working the fields on his tractor, families and children enjoying an outdoor performance of classical Chinese opera, and women practicing traditional fan dancing in a park.  But the serene music that accompanies these opening shots takes a sudden dark and sinister turn as the scene switches to the dimly lit interior of an Internet café.  A young boy stands up woozily from his computer and stumbles out of the café, walking only a few feet before collapsing from exhaustion and, improbably, falling asleep directly on a set of train tracks in front of an oncoming train.  As unbelievable as this incident might seem, this is in fact yet another scene ripped straight from the Chinese media’s sensationalistic headlines about Internet addiction.

Sensationalism aside, what is most striking about this opening sequence is its vision of two competing Chinese cultures: there is, on one hand, the vibrant culture of Chinese tradition, and, on the other, the dangerous and foreign culture of the Internet café.  In the face of this threat, the figure of the desperate mother becomes a symbol of national moral crisis.  She can be seen as reaching out to her child, usually a son, in a frantic effort to restore tradition and protect the future of the nation in the face of corrupting foreign influences.

While the mother as symbol of the nation is not restricted to China, the image of the suffering and desperate mother has a particular resonance within Chinese history. Hsiung Ping Chen (1994) has noted that mothers in late imperial China often used their suffering as a device by which to manipulate and guilt their sons into achieving excellence.  The mother of opium commissioner Lin Tse-hsü (Lin Zexu) famously admonished her son that, “Only if you study hard and honor your parents by your success will my pains not be suffered in vain” (p. 39).  Today, the desperation of mothers in China may be compounded by the fact couples are restricted to one child, making that child what anthropologist Vanessa Fong (2004) has called the family’s “only hope.”  Fong notes that mothers thus invest everything in their child’s future, hoping that their children will grow up to be filial and successful enough to provide for them in their old age.

With reports that Internet addiction centers are using extreme measures such as shock therapy to treat addicts, mothers have also become the face of a different kind of treatment: moral reformation (ganhua).  Rather than framing addiction as a mental illness that brings shame to families by suggesting an internal or hereditary defect, moral reformation frames Internet addiction as an issue having to do with external forces such as proper education.  Young people are portrayed as having lost their moral compass and sense of duty to their families.  Notably, this kind of treatment was also used to address the problem of opium addiction. Dikotter, Laamann, and Zhou (2004) have called attention to the portrayal of “addicts as misguided human beings in need of help,” noting that “moral reformation” involved lectures, formal education and “wholesome leisure.”  Addicts were strictly disciplined in hope of  “correcting wrong ideas” and creating “morally good citizens.”

Today, as I watch the pomp and circumstance surrounding the opening ceremony of the World Cyber Games in China, it is clear that e-sports is being promoted as a form of “wholesome leisure” that can lead to the creation of “morally good citizens.”  The question left in my mind, as I scan the audience, is where are all the proud mothers?

— Marcella Szablewicz

Reflections on Red Ribbon Week

When my daughter came home from kindergarten talking about Red Ribbon Week, I was delighted. I proudly showed her my collection of red ribbons, proud that a consciousness-raising symbol signifying AIDS awareness had made its way into public school classrooms. No, she explained, this Red Ribbon Week was different. She had never heard of AIDS. This Red Ribbon Week was about drugs. “But,” she said, “We don’t really learn about them. We just get told “DON’T DO DRUGS!”

When she showed me her Red Ribbon Week handouts, I was bemused by the big red X’s over coloring-book line drawings of wine bottles and beer cans, syringes, pill bottles, and cigarettes. I was mildly amused at her ferocious response to my very occasional glass of wine with dinner in the post-Red Ribbon Week weeks. My own parents were tee-totalers, so I hold on to my increasingly rare social drinking as a form of no-longer-precocious resistance to authority. But as a drug policy historian, I began tugging at the thread of the Red Ribbon.Read More »

Lessons of the Narcotic Farm, Part VI, Reflections of an Accidental Drug Historian

It was April 2005 when I walked up to the car rental booth at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport and announced to the man behind the counter, “I’m high on cough syrup.” I had spent a year researching the history of the Narcotic Farm for a documentary with my partner JP Olsen and at that moment I felt like a test subject in the institution’s Addiction Research Center. I let loose a verbal flash flood: “I’m having trouble using my hands and things look streaky and my feet are kind of floating but that’s not what I meant to say. My name is Luke Walden. I’m really high on cough syrup.”

Addiction Research Center Inventory (ARCI)

I was close to reenacting an old story: in trying to calm a body-wracking cough, I had taken two gulps of an unfamiliar syrup called Delsym and accidently gotten high. And I kind of liked it. While my intoxication subsided by the next morning, I continued to enjoy the medicine’s apparent side effect of making tedious work (videotaping a sales conference) not just bearable but even pleasant for two full days. But suddenly on the third day I found myself bored to tears, exhausted and desperate. I considered taking more of the orange syrup and if there had been a fourth day I might have. A news segment on the tiny TV in my taxi back in New York made me glad I hadn’t. I learned that Delsym’s active ingredient Dextromethorphan (dxm) was the hot new drug of abuse among high school kids. It all seemed like a familiar story ripped from the annals of drug history.

Four years after finishing The Narcotic Farm, I find myself still hooked on the history of drugs. (Literally. I just spent two guilty hours compulsively reading old Points posts and watching YouTubers trip on dxm and salvia.) It puts me in a strange position. I am a generalist documentary filmmaker (and now mostly full time dad) who only got involved in the “Narco” project at JP’s invitation. So I am sometimes startled to find myself on stage in academic settings, being asked serious questions about what addiction is, what lessons we should take from Narco’s history, and what I learned from doing this project.

I tell audiences first that I learned to approach historical accounts and especially documentary films with a healthy dose of skepticism. Filmmaking is highly constrained by the need to engage and constantly maintain the viewer’s interest. This is usually interpreted to mean that “storytelling” takes precedence over all, that a good story follows an Aristotelian or “Hollywood” structure and is told in terms of one or two main characters’ emotional experiences. I call it the tyranny of narrative. In a historical documentary it means compressing complex ideas into sound bites and omitting important histories that interrupt the story. Documentaries are also supposed to have a clear point of view – the filmmakers’ stance on who the good guys and bad guys are. Instead JP and I tried to tell an accurate, neutral and nuanced story and were dismayed when the producer of one PBS independent film series told us our film was “too objective for public television.”

On the nod at the ARC

I also tell people that studying the history of Lexington has educated me surprisingly well to cope with having an addict in my own extended family. This unexpected benefit first became clear when I recognized that my mother-in-law was “on the nod” at Christmas dinner. Rather than being mystified to see a normally vivacious person slumped over the ham, my study of the old Addiction Research Center lab films allowed me to confidently identify opiate intoxication. Catherine had been prescribed OxyContin after shoulder surgery and had tried to taper her dose by cutting her time-release pills in half. It was an old familiar story of accidental overdose. I thought of myself floating through Sky Harbor.

My historical research equipped me to speak matter-of-factly despite Catherine’s history of defensiveness about her alcoholism. She agreed not to drive and to see a doctor about minimizing her use of narcotics. But her entanglement with opiates didn’t stop there. Some months later I took one look at Catherine lying sick in our guest bed with her legs stirring the sheets and recognized that she was kicking cold turkey, just like the test subjects in the A.R.C. films. She had run out of her prescription but thought she just had the flu.

After several months she got clean, but she believes that the opiates “softened her up” so that depression could trigger a shockingly severe relapse to alcohol after 10 years sober in Alcoholics Anonymous. My research helped me again. When she called with crazy excuses for failing to do what she promised I was emboldened by our interviews with retired former addicts and by our study of therapeutic communities such as Matrix House to confront her. I could say, “I know you are lying to me and I know that’s what addiction makes people do. If you can be honest with yourself and with me that you have been drinking, then we can discuss the actual situation and figure out how to work on this problem together.” Her years of work in AA and my ability to compassionately confront her opened a productive dialogue. Ongoing conversations didn’t solve the problem, however, and over the next few months things deteriorated. In one three-week period she was admitted to an ER and two detox centers and spent a day in jail.

At her lowest point Catherine took comfort from one of Lexington’s lasting legacies: the definition of addiction as a chronic relapsing brain disease.  This model was proposed and debated by Harris Isbell, Abraham Wikler and others at the ARC in the 1950s and has since evolved and become entrenched as the public slogan of federally funded research on addiction. Points has entertained a lively discussion about what David Courtwright has recently called “the NIDA paradigm.” But one aspect of this idea not extensively explored in recent Points posts is how the disease concept affects people in recovery and their families.

Catherine has told me that thinking of addiction as a disease helped her to overcome deep shame so she could make the honest self-assessment necessary to get back on the path of recovery. Discussing addiction as a disease allowed me to frame it not as a problem with her as a person, which might make her feel attacked and me resentful (though inevitably there is a bit of both), but as an affliction. If she had cancer I would be compassionate even though her smoking might have brought it on. Similarly, thinking of addiction as a medical problem allowed me to set aside emotional reactions to her addictive behavior and act as compassionately as possible. Ironically, having completed outpatient rehab and with several months sober in N.A., Catherine now says she doesn’t think that addiction is a disease. That definition is no longer relevant for her and instead she thinks about recovery in terms of taking personal responsibility for her choices.

Promoting the disease model at Lexington. Photo by Arthur Rothstein, 1939.

It’s also ironic that in my own life the most useful lesson of Lexington’s forty year history is the original ideal upon which it was founded in 1935: that addicts should be treated with compassion, as “sick” people needing help. Defining addiction as a disease can be useful. It elicits compassionate behavior (and policy decisions and funding) from those who do not suffer from it. But I remain curious about how addicts themselves experience the effects of the disease definition. Do they feel liberated from shame and stigma? Or burdened with a defective brain? Does defining addiction as chronic and relapsing facilitate recovery or precipitate relapse? How would I feel about it had I gone back to the Delsym again and again and taken a journey as hard as Catherine’s?  And do these pragmatic, treatment-oriented considerations even matter for addiction researchers or historians? As an accidental drug historian I find that they matter to me.

— Luke Walden

Lessons of the Narcotic Farm, Part Five: Matrix House, continued

From the outset of the Matrix House treatment program, there were concerns among non-medical staff at Lexington that neither Dr. Conrad nor Wildes appreciated the explosive nature of allowing addicts free reign within a building isolated from the rest of society. Before long there were also signs that something was amiss inside Matrix. In my interview with Dr. Jack Croughan, Matrix’s attending physician and the only person other than Dr. Conrad with a key to the Matrix building, recalled meeting a young woman inside Matrix whose withdrawn behavior struck him as odd, particularly given the generally upbeat feel of the place — which he described as “slightly hypomanic.” But with no evidence of wrongdoing – and the denials of the woman that anything was wrong – he voiced no concerns.

Matrix House residents enjoy a little posed quiet time on the front porch.

Some months after that incident, Matrix was shut down in dramatic fashion by the FBI amid allegations that members were being tortured and that bombs were being assembled in the basement. The bombs – it was initially reported – were part of a plot to overthrow the federal government. This turned out to be false; the group was in fact building pyrotechnics for a musical theater production they were intending on presenting later that year.

In April of 1973, however, Jon Wildes appeared in federal court in downtown Lexington to face weapons charges. Read More »

Lessons of the Narcotic Farm, Part Five: Matrix House

In 1970, four recovering drug addicts, disillusioned with their treatment at U.S. Public Health Service Hospital – aka The Narcotic Farm – started their own drug-free support group. With their pledges to stay clean through a self-motivated “heal thyself” credo, the four men quickly caught the attention of The Narcotic Farm’s lead administrator, Dr. Harold Conrad. A rising star within public health’s Washington Beltway coterie, Conrad had been sent to Lexington to shunt the institution’s mission, which had been dramatically altered by a major change in the drug laws brought about by the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act, or NARA.

During the NARA years, addicts who committed felonies but were deemed by judges to be good rehabilitation prospects were allowed to enroll in federal drug treatment programs to avoid going to prison.Read More »


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Tactical Freudianism

A form of sophistry is to reduce all opposing viewpoints to hate or fear. I call this Tactical Freudianism.

Tactical Freudianism: the psychopathologization of the mental state or motivation of an opponent.

I see Tactical Freudianism as a variety of ad hominem, where rather than attack the argument, you simply label the opponent’s psychology as pathological. Just is an ad hominem is a label applied to ‘the man’ rather than the argument, Tactical Freudianism is a label applied to the psychological state or motivations of the arguer. In the scale of sophistry, Tactical Freudianism is a step above the basic-bitch tactic of calling your opponent a racist or a fascist. It’s still nothing more than sophistry.

Tactical Freudianism incorporates elements of gaslighting, where you attempt to convince someone that their sane judgement is actually mad. To label an argument as hate or fear or x-phobia, is to provide false information with the purpose of making the opponent doubt his own memory, perception or sanity.

Those who understand that Muslims are a clear and present danger to the West are Islamophobes. They are gaslighted into believing that their perception of the danger of Muslim invasion is due to faulty memory, perception or sanity.

We see this tactic applied widely, in all mediums. Tactical Freudianism. Call it when you see it.

Note @Outsideness sent me a tweet reminding me of Adorno, with a link to this Wiki page. Excellent addition.

Guns, Germs and Steel

Book Review: Guns, Germs and Steel

Guns, Germs and Steel by (((Jared Diamond)))

(((Diamond)))’s thesis is that European civilizational attainment was due to dumb luck of geography, because Anglo-Saxons were situated geographically at the far end of a temperate region that stretched from Western Europe to Asia. This temperate band facilitated transfer discoveries, plants, and animals across the band, as opposed to North and South America in which two large temperate zones are joined through a narrow and inhospitable strip (Central America) which blocked transfer. I don’t doubt that there is some truth to the idea that the large temperate band was helpful in networking a larger number of humans together. This ties in nicely with (((modern))) world history in which the globe produced modernity and not NW Europeans. It also ties in with Blank Slatist egalitarian theories by giving an environmental cause for the differences in civilizational attainment that has no dependency on genetic factors.

making2beurope-2bpeople2bpolitics2band2bculture(((Diamond))) basically asserts that the people of Papua New Guinea would have been able to attain the same level of civilational achievement, had they been born with Eurasian Temperate Zone Privilege. This supports the egalitarian hypothesis that genetic differences between populations are of minimal importance.
Modern world history is designed to deconstruct Western Civilization, and to find its ‘roots’ throughout the globe. This is why World History courses have replaced Western Civilization courses throughout the West, in order to reinforce in our people that there is nothing special about the West, because the West was simply privileged and piggy-backed on the greatness of other civilizations.

The best antidote to this historical leveling that I have found, with the most rigorous investigation and defense of the singular and distinct greatness of the West is Ricardo Duchesne’s The Uniqueness of Western Civilization. I highly recommend it. Duchesne opens by investigating the (((intellectual forces of leveling))) in academia which have been working implacably to undermine Western Civilization’s place as something beautiful, unique and worth preserving. (((Jared Diamond))) is among these forces.

I also recommend Duchesne’s site: The Council of European Canadians.

Video Transcript

NAXALT stands for “Not All X Are Like That”.

In any discussion of group patterns, someone will inevitably use the NAXALT fallacy, as though it is a meaningful rebuttal. When discussing group patterns, it is not.

For example, if we are discussing swans, someone will say “Swans are white”, which will elicit the rebuttal “But, there are black swans too.” This is NASALT: Not All Swans Are Like That.

The problem is that when we say “Swans are white”, this can be interpreted as “Swans are universally white” or “Swans are generally white.” “Swans are white” is a generalization, not a universalization. We use generalizations a lot in our daily lives, and we just assume that we are talking about the general and not the universal. I might say “The Dutch are tall.” Obviously, the Dutch are not universally tall, even without visiting Holland, we know that there are some Dutch who are shorter than others. We naturally assume that we are talking about the general. When we say “The Dutch are tall,” it’s just sort of obvious that we mean generally.

Generally, swans are white, so: “Swans are white.”

Humans are pattern matching machines. We don’t need to take a survey and produce a statistical graph to know that “Swans are white.”

However, there are more controversial and complex topics where we do rely on statistical data.

This is a “Bell Curve”.

In statistics we call this a “normal distribution.” Many human traits, such as height, weight, or IQ, when measured in a large group of individuals, will take the form of a bell curve. The middle of the bell is the median. This is the norm. The tails on either end of the bell are not technically “outliers,” but you get the idea. The tails are filled with individuals which deviate from the norm. It is fair to say that those individuals are not the norm.

The point is: the median defines the pattern. Yes, there are those who don’t fit the pattern, but that does not mean that the pattern does not exist. The pattern still exists even though there are some who don’t fit the pattern.

So, if I say “Swans are white”. The rebuttal “But black swans exist” is meaningless because it is in essence a naive (or devious) way of saying “The pattern you identified, that swans are generally white, is false, because I saw a black swan”.

And that is not true.

The Cathedral

Video Transcript

My impression is that some people think that The Cathedral is some sort of a conspiracy, that it’s an evil plot to take over our minds and control mankind.  I don’t think that’s what it is. I think it’s a social technology.

Cathedral as a Tool

It exists because it provides competitive advantage to its adherents, and like any tool, it can be used or misused. Because it’s a system, it can also be gamed.

The Cathedral is a self-organizing ideological alliance of the elite (abstract thinkers). This alliance is made up of academia, media, government and business (corporate interests). It is an engine of abstract, universalist consensus building and distribution.

Humans are social animals and we organize together into groups for competitive advantage. Larger groups out-compete smaller groups (generally).Humans (and other primates) generally organize along genetic lines. This poses a problem: As the group size grows, genetic distance increases… so how do we scale the group and maintain group cohesion at the same time?

Cathedral as Self-Perpetuating Memeplex

In highly intelligent primates (humans), you can use a memeplex. A memeplex is a set of ideas, abstractions. This set of ideas should create a universal identity. Christianity is such a universalist memeplex. Christians refer to themselves (ourselves) as ‘Brothers in Christ‘. There is neither Greek, nor Jew. The dogma of Christianity enforces the idea that the members should ignore racial and ethnic differences, and remain united in their religious ideals. The Communist ideology maintains similar ideals of ignoring racial and ethnic differences. Communism maintains that all differences are merely socially constructed and must be deconstructed. Global capitalism takes a similar non-racial, non-ethnic view of the people within the nation-states. They view them merely as customers within markets, or as human resource widgets within the system of production. This is the meaning behind terms such as the ‘Proposition Nation‘. A Proposition Nation is a group of people who are united in their acceptance in a set of ideals or a creed, ignoring racial or ethnic differences.

Throughout the West, the dogma is equalitarian. All men are created equal. The dogma is Love, and that which goes against the dogma is Hate. To deny the dogma is a heresy. Those who benefit from the group cohesion created by the memeplex will defend it, simply because it is in their intuited genetic self-interest.

Heresies are disruptions of the ideological consensus. Because the consensus creates group cohesion, which confers competitive advantage, the system will attempt to reject the disruption. This is the point where we see the Hegelian dialectic, as a compromise or integration is attempted. At root, there is a cost-benefit analysis. If the cost of the disruption outweighs the benefit, it will be rejected. But if the benefit outweighs the cost, it will be integrated into the system.

An example of this is when Galileo disrupted the Ptolemaic view of the solar system with the heliocentric model. HBD, race realism and evolutionary psychology are similarly disruptive ideas. The system has been attempting to reject them to maintain group cohesion, but the benefits to building functional systems outweigh the costs. Thus we see the current scientific assault against the equalitarian consensus.

The Chant

Any memeplex of ideological consensus must be maintained and distributed. Humans learn through repeated exposure to stimulus. The process of distribution of the memeplex through endless repetition is known as indoctrination. We call this endless repetition of the dogma the echo chamber. We can call this by other names: Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), mind control, propaganda, etc. In call cases, it’s the process of creating in the minds of the adherents a Reality by Chanting.

Again, this is a social technology. It’s simply a tool that humans have created for the maintenance of our groups. Once the adherents are sufficiently indoctrinated, the reality of the universe is created in their minds. At this point, they have difficulty processing information which is counter to the dogma. The new information creates a painful cognitive dissonance. The modern secular cults label this information: Hate. While in religious memeplexes, these are labeled heresies or blasphemies. In the Alt-Right, we call this Taking the Red Pill. The process of overcoming our own programming is difficult. For many, this awakening is a very painful experience.

In my opinion, abstract collectivism is a competitive strategy. It allows for group cohesion in large and disparate groups, which then allows the larger group to out-compete smaller, less-organized groups. It’s most effective in populations with a high ability for abstraction. The smarter the population, the more open they are to memeplexes.

I believe that this social technology is most beneficial in groups with single ends, meaning that they have a single reproductive strategy. When groups with competitive reproductive strategies are allowed into the system, then they may seek to game the system for their own reproductive advantage. I believe that this is what has happened in the West. We now the the anti-White bias of the Left as non-White polities attempt to gain competitive advantage within the system through the notion of White Guilt or Racism. Racism is an accusation of bad faith, of failing to adhere to the dogma of equalitarianism. Because the notion of racism is simply being used by certain groups to game the system for competitive advantage, to the white population the cost of it exceeds the benefit of group cohesion.

The Cathedral is a self-organizing ideological alliance of the cognitive elite. It is a social technology, which exists because it produces group cohesion in large populations and this group cohesion confers competitive advantage. Religions and ideologies are group organizing memeplexes. The tenets of the organizing memeplex may be referred to as the dogma. Ideas which conflict with the memeplex may be called heresies. The memeplex is distributed and embedded through repetition. Smart populations respond very well to indoctrination. The cohesion gained through this social technology can be very beneficial to groups with compatible reproductive strategies. This organizing technology can also be gamed, if groups with competing reproductive strategies are allowed to insert their memes into the echo chamber. The charge of racism is such a gaming of this system, and the cost of bearing the charge exceeds the benefit gained through group cohesion, thus we see a growing rejection of the notion.

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Video: Three Estates of the Realm

Explains what progressives, conservatives and libertarians want, and why, all without ideology or psychology, purely with biology and evolution.

17 thoughts on “Video: Three Estates of the Realm

  1. Interesting construct, I see the tension here also between the one and the many, However why does the Theonomist circle (oratores) and the fourth estate an extension of this group? Likewise, the construct breaks down further when you use doolitittle trichotomy. I agree that theonomy traditionalist view is more patriachal rather than left feminine (except those who are part of the protestant deformation), Traditionalist/theonomists also set limits/laws and have no problem with bearing the sword in the political realm ( see Rushdoony, North ect) It is unfortunate that Doolitle, like Nietzche have never been exposed to Calvanist and Augustinian political theory. Anyway excellent post thank you for your challenging paradigms.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Narrative ( Samuel Rutherford Lex Rex ect and others) explains the justification however they certainly used the sword. so i guess thats the area of intersection in your Ven diagram

  3. The one thing I don’t understand is why the bottom left includes patriarchy? People occupying that region are generally anti patriarchy now. I feel as though patriarchy would fit the bottom right.

  4. I don’t mean to be contrary, but after chewing on it for a while, I have found the first estate a bit awkward to understand. We don’t really know if the original Indo-European priestly caste was ‘leftist’. Judging from various Indo-European mythologies it seems like the first function was originally more focused on maintaining cosmic order through proper sacrifices, as well as creating contracts, and settling legal disputes. I don’t really see what is inherently ‘left wing’, ‘feminine’, or ‘short-term minded’ about this. I’m not sure, but it may be that the first estate mutated into a completely different creature when Christianity came along and brought a new system of ethics.

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