The Origin of the word Daemon
ei.cs.vt.edu
ei.cs.vt.edu
Also: I pronounce "daemon" as "DAY-mun," as opposed to "demon", which I pronounce "DEE-mun." Do the rest of you make this distinction?
I've known for a long time how it was meant to be pronounced, so when talking to other programmers/hacker types, I say DEE-mun, but when talking to ordinary people I say DAE-mun so they don't say "wtf demons on computers now?" or somesuch - most don't, but some more religious types look at you funny...
I always thought the UNIX term came from the meaning of a subordinate/helper spirit (which is what they are, basically - helper services)
Edit: interchangeably, DEE-mon or DEE-mun
But mostly I just want to stop being confused whenever someone says "daemon" around the office, and I think they're talking to me.
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.
But in the end it is a bogus idea (even as a thought experiment) since quantum mechanics comes into play in real life.
Great book so far (currently around page 130). I usually only read while commuting (2 hours / day), but this book is so exciting, I found myself reading it at home too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_%28technothriller_series...
Anyway, I, too, pronounce it "daemon". I find this makes a useful distinction; also, I figure why insult the processes from which I'm hoping to receive good things. ;-)
Many things that the west considers evil in that way comes from other religions (mainly the large number of "nature" religions that get lumped under the banner of "pagan") and is that way from the early days of Christianity as it marched through Europe.
The cloven feet of the devil and other spawn of hell, as commonly depicted, are thought to originally have been a reference to Pan by the Christian artists of the day.
It isn't just evil: even more friendly imaginary come from similar backgrounds: the Easter bunny and hunting eggs at Easter are references back to "Pagan" rituals/gods - as groups converted to Christianity they kept some of their old festivals and such (in a more and more bastardised form as time passed).
Most of what we in the west do at the back end of December has (or had originally) very little to do with Christianity (even ignoring the fair chunk of it came about in the last century or two). There were many "pagan" festivals around that time, mostly of the form of some sort of thanks giving (thanking their Gods or other forces for allowing them to survive past the shortest days of the year, or congratulating themselves for the same), but until 800-and-something AD the Christians didn't mark the birth of Christ at that time. The ceremonies at Easter were (and largely still are) far far more important to them.