Online Encyclopedia
Autonomy
(Redirected from Autonomous)
Autonomy is the condition of something that does not depend on anything else.
- In politics, a self-governing city or region, e.g. Kurdistan, Kosovo or Hong Kong SAR (not necessarily as a result of formal secession), is autonomous. True autonomy is usually a pre-requisite to separation or secession, however, but autonomy does not necessarily lead to separation. Autonomy is not independence.
- In Eastern Christianity, autonomy is the status of a hierarchical church whose head bishop is appointed by a higher-ranking bishop, often a patriarch, who has no other authority over the autonomous church. This status is one step short of autocephaly.
- In computing, a peripheral that can be used with the computer turned off (for example, a multifunction printer/copier/fax machine that can still copy and fax without the computer being turned on), is autonomous.
- A company and its computer software package, which performs pattern recognition with a Bayesian algorithm, used by e.g. governments and intelligence agencies; see Autonomy (software).
See also
- Science and technology
- Territories and organizations
Last updated: 10-24-2004 05:10:45