I believe it comes from “Federated Universe”, so same difference.

Yes.

Federation refers to how all the independent websites agree on a common protocol, which permits decentralization.

Universe means… everything.

I’ve always assumed so

Yea. I really love the idea. It’s an extremely organic structure. Like skin cells. Brain cells. Nature did it best, now we’re just extrapolating that into how our interactions are organized, and I fully support the advancement of this type of thing. If we’re gonna go full super saiyan, gotta do it right.