Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Autonomy is the condition of something that does not depend on anything else. 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 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 computing, the peripheral that can be used with the computer turned off (like multifunctionals, to copy and fax), is autonomous. See also Science and technology Multifunctional Autonomous robot Autonomous system (the Internet, and Mathematics) Autonomous building Territories and organizations Autonomous communities of Spain Autonomous region Urban autonomy Jewish Autonomous Republic Autonomous Orthodox church\n This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.