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Cyhist Jul 5 1996 E
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Date: Fri, 5 Jul 1996 23:33:00 -0700
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From: hari@wired.co.uk (Hari Kunzru)
To: "Multiple recipients of list cpsr-history@cpsr.org" Subject: CM> Origins of the word "ghost in the machine."
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Sender: hari@wired.co.uk (Hari Kunzru)
Subject: Re: CM> Origins of the word "ghost in the machine."
>>Sarah Stein writes
>>
>> Can anyone tell me the origins and meaning of the phrase "ghost in the
>machine," as well as some >history of its usage?
The references to Greek stage machinery are definitely in order, but the
specific origin of the phrase is a postwar reference to Descartes. For
Descartes the soul was the 'seat of reason', directing the mechanistic
operations of the body from its seat in (as I remember) the pineal gland.
Arthur Koestler's 1967 book 'The Ghost in the Machine' is as far as I know
the origin of this phrase for the immaterial director of our material
functions, though I have a vague memory that the phrase might have been
coined by an Oxford philosopher writing a critique of Descartes slightly
earlier than Koestler's book.
Hari Kunzru
Review Editor **** Wired Magazine, London
**** tel: +44.171.775.3441 **** fax: +44.171.775.3401
**** hari@wired.co.uk ****
hari@juju.demon.co.uk
'It's real, it's mainstream, it's smack in the middle of our critical path
to everywhere'
[overheard at Apple press conference]
______________________________________________________________________
Reply-To: cpsr-history@Sunnyside.COM
Originator: cpsr-history@cpsr.org
Sender: listserv-reply-errors@Sunnyside.COM
Precedence: bulk
From: hari@wired.co.uk (Hari Kunzru)
To: "Multiple recipients of list cpsr-history@cpsr.org" Subject: CM> Origins of the word "ghost in the machine."
X-Listprocessor-Version: 9.1 -- List Server by Sunnyside Computing, Inc.
X-Comment: Discussion of history of computing
X-Info: For listserv info write to listserv@cpsr.org with message HELP
X-Message-Id: <1024479473779.LTK.013@cpsr.org>
X-Status:
X-UIDL: 836675371.020
Sender: hari@wired.co.uk (Hari Kunzru)
Subject: Re: CM> Origins of the word "ghost in the machine."
>>Sarah Stein writes
>>
>> Can anyone tell me the origins and meaning of the phrase "ghost in the
>machine," as well as some >history of its usage?
The references to Greek stage machinery are definitely in order, but the
specific origin of the phrase is a postwar reference to Descartes. For
Descartes the soul was the 'seat of reason', directing the mechanistic
operations of the body from its seat in (as I remember) the pineal gland.
Arthur Koestler's 1967 book 'The Ghost in the Machine' is as far as I know
the origin of this phrase for the immaterial director of our material
functions, though I have a vague memory that the phrase might have been
coined by an Oxford philosopher writing a critique of Descartes slightly
earlier than Koestler's book.
Hari Kunzru
Review Editor **** Wired Magazine, London
**** tel: +44.171.775.3441 **** fax: +44.171.775.3401
**** hari@wired.co.uk ****
hari@juju.demon.co.uk
'It's real, it's mainstream, it's smack in the middle of our critical path
to everywhere'
[overheard at Apple press conference]
______________________________________________________________________
