Glossary

Epsilon Theory Glossary

  • Coyote – Smart people who miss the forest for the trees. They excel at the local game, but fail the larger social game.
  • Narrative – The overarching ideas and stories that shape how we understand new information.
  • Narrative Machine - The use of natural language processing (NLP) technologies to measure and visualize narratives.  
Nudge/Nudging: From the Thaler/Sunstein book, a framing of a social issue by governments or corporations that leads to a desired political or economic response.
  • Raccoon – The scammers, con artists, hucksters, thieves and criminals who infest financial services.
Rhinoceros: From the Ionesco play, someone who is transformed into an unthinking brute, typically along political party lines.
  • The Long Now – The pulling forward of the future through debt and narrative to create a world where only the present matters.
Widening Gyre: From the Yeats poem, a world where political polarization and economic disparities advance uncontrollably.