Definitions
Wiktionary
- adj. of animal behaviour deterministic; pre-programmed
Etymologies
- Coined by Douglas Hofstadter in his column Metamagical Themas, after a study of the behaviour of sphexide wasps. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“(Experiments reveal that humans have areas in which they repeat the same mistakes endlessly too, so it seems we might be "sphexish" as well).”
“And then you need to decide if you are going to call something that might well be perfectly sphexish – without any ability to flexibly respond to novel circumstance – "intelligent" in the first place!”
“(Compare Dan Dennett’s idea that when we get distressed by the notion that humans lack radical free will, it’s really because we’re concerned with being sphexish rather than with being determined per se.)”
“Now, what might well bother us is to see ourselves as what Daniel Dennett calls “sphexish “: determined in some crude or stupid way.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sphexish’.
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litany of lexical likes
words I find interesting or that stuck in my head or that I want to revisit at some point
loblolly, animadvert, misoneism, outrance, chokedamp, appropinquate, noesis, cataphor, flabbergastment, godforsaken, mendacity, sussurus and 90 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
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gleaned words
found words, that haven't found their proper place yet.
juggernaut, panopticon, superfluous, verfremdung, aleatory, googlewhack, palimpsest, petrosomatoglyph, epibiont, solipsism, zugzwang, ubiquitous and 500 more...
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Use these words
lambent, efflux, extricate, sublimate, usurpation, subsume, tectorial, languorous, lackadaisical, saturnine, eudaimonia, intransigence and 26 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sphexish.
Telofy “They can be as sphexish or as intentional as you please.”
—Richard Dawkins, Viruses of the Mind (p. 11) Jul 24, 2010
tadanga "sphexish" - inflexible,mindless automatism ~ computer scientist Douglas Hofstader,
p.67 in "River Out of Eden",Richard Dawkins,N.Y.,Basic Books,1995 Sep 19, 2009