4 ms·

So Unix daemons are descendants of Maxwell's daemon. But we need not forget that Maxwell's demon is part of a long series of philosophical thought experiments,

So Unix daemons are descendants of Maxwell's daemon. But we need not forget that Maxwell's demon is part of a long series of philosophical thought experiments, including Laplace's demon and Descartes's malin génie. In Ancient Greek "daimōn" just means God or Deity without the connotation of evil.

dpapathanasiou 15y ago
That reminds me of this story, about the BSD Daemon logo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bsd_daemon.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bsd_daemon.jpg) on a T shirt in Texas: http://rmitz.org/freebsd.daemon.html http://rmitz.org/freebsd.daemon.html
ignifero 15y ago
To be fair, James Maxwell is an indirect link to the word demon. I like the word, despite it's evil nature. I imagine daemons as devilish little programs hiding behind your back as you work, and I 've always been a fan of the freebsd demon. Its also infinitely better than "services"
Symmetry 15y ago
It seems to me like the word "genie" in modern English(from the same root I suspect) gets across the idea very well without all the misleading associations.
- smcl 15y ago
  Genie is from the arabic "jinn"
  - Symmetry 15y ago
    I decided to actually look it up, and according to an etymology dictionary: "1650s, "tutelary spirit," from Fr. génie, from L. genius (see genius); used in French translation of "Arabian Nights" to render Arabic jinni, singular of jinn, which it accidentally resembled, and attested in English with this sense from 1748." On the other hand, my above post absolutely deserved to be downvoted because it is entirely unclear that I meant "The same root as 'malin génie' (evil genius in the 16th century sense of 'genious' as an inspirational spirit) as opposed to demon.
    - smcl 15y ago
      Downvoting seems a little harsh for just getting a conjecture incorrect - you get an upvote from me for being inquisitive
ryanklee 15y ago
Add to this Socrates's own personal daimon, who, if I am recalling this correctly, would instruct him against taking certain actions but never instructed him to carry any specific actions out. I've always looked at it as one of the earliest examples of reference to conscience in Western writings.

dpapathanasiou 15y ago

That reminds me of this story, about the BSD Daemon logo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bsd_daemon.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bsd_daemon.jpg) on a T shirt in Texas: http://rmitz.org/freebsd.daemon.html http://rmitz.org/freebsd.daemon.html

ignifero 15y ago

To be fair, James Maxwell is an indirect link to the word demon. I like the word, despite it's evil nature. I imagine daemons as devilish little programs hiding behind your back as you work, and I 've always been a fan of the freebsd demon. Its also infinitely better than "services"

Symmetry 15y ago

It seems to me like the word "genie" in modern English(from the same root I suspect) gets across the idea very well without all the misleading associations.

smcl 15y ago
Genie is from the arabic "jinn"
- Symmetry 15y ago
  I decided to actually look it up, and according to an etymology dictionary: "1650s, "tutelary spirit," from Fr. génie, from L. genius (see genius); used in French translation of "Arabian Nights" to render Arabic jinni, singular of jinn, which it accidentally resembled, and attested in English with this sense from 1748." On the other hand, my above post absolutely deserved to be downvoted because it is entirely unclear that I meant "The same root as 'malin génie' (evil genius in the 16th century sense of 'genious' as an inspirational spirit) as opposed to demon.
  - smcl 15y ago
    Downvoting seems a little harsh for just getting a conjecture incorrect - you get an upvote from me for being inquisitive

ryanklee 15y ago

Add to this Socrates's own personal daimon, who, if I am recalling this correctly, would instruct him against taking certain actions but never instructed him to carry any specific actions out. I've always looked at it as one of the earliest examples of reference to conscience in Western writings.