demon

[John McCreery]

On 2003.8.17, at 02:15 午前, Timothy Mason wrote:

>>
> 'Daemon' now has a separate meaning within the computer sciences - and
> in Philip Pullman's novels, where it refers to a familiar which is a
> manifestation of the person's inner self.


Don't have time to run down the references, but I have a dim impression
that the original Greek appears in Plato where it indicates Socrates'
genius, the inner voice which inspires his philosophy.

This spurs the next vague memory, that "demon" was demonized during the
Christianization of Europe when listening to any inner voice but God's
was damning.

The original notion, quite common actually, all around the world,
points to an autonomous agent that is part of the self but sometimes
operates independently of what we now call ego, as an inspiration for
acts that fall outside the normal parameters--art, extreme violence,
that sort of thing.

Another current usage is in the field of fluid dynamics, where a demon
is a process that separates cooler, slower moving from hotter, faster
moving molecules. I love this one because it is so consistent with the
older usage described above, something "inside" the pipe that appears
to operate "autonomously" resulting in an unexpected (to the naive
observer, at least) action: A warm gas goes in and comes out as two
separate streams, one hot, one cold.

Cheers,



John L. McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd.
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