Does your computer have a ghost living inside it? Mine seems like it does.
Gilbert Ryles, a British philosopher, in his book, The Concept of Mind, introduced the phrase the “ghost in the machine”. Ryles was criticizing Rene Descartes’ theories on mind-body dualism. I once read a book by Arthur Koestler that used the phrase in its title.
Koestler’s book targeted mankind’s self destructive urge particularly with regard to the nuclear proliferation occurring at the end of the sixties. The book also had issues with the behaviourist theories of B.F. Skinner. Koestler’s ‘ghost’ was the earlier, more primitive reptilian brain on which our human brain has been built. I found it intriguing that there was possibly an unconscious entity within my psyche that could covertly affect my conscious activity and I wondered if we should extend this disposition to non-human machines and objects that we are involved with on a daily basis.
Can non-human objects or machines have ghosts in them too? Rocks are objects that are unarguably non-human and inanimate. For a brief period in the ‘70’s rocks were playfully sold as pets. We refer to boats and automobiles as “she” in our daily conversations. We get indignant with many of our machines when they don’t perform the way we expect them to. Do our non-human machines have ghosts in them too? If you are an Animist you would likely venture a yes to that question. Wikipedia describes Animism as a philosophical, religious or spiritual idea that souls or spirits exist not only in humans and animals but also in plants, rocks, rivers and even thunder.
Another term, similar to ghost, that we could use to describe the animated shadow living inside of our human and non-human machines is daimon. We apparently aren’t sure of the exact origin of the word in the ancient Greek language. Daimon is the Greek derivative of demon and in this sense means ‘replete with knowledge’. The more exact Greek meaning for daimon is ‘divine power’, ‘fate’, or ‘god’. Early Christians preferred the more derogatory term demon because they didn’t like the idea of an inner voice or figure influencing us. The Romans took a different tack altogether and referred to it as “genius”.
James Hillman, an American Jungian psychologist, in his 1997 book The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling, developed a theory in which the daimon plays a central role. Hillman presented what he called ‘the acorn theory’ of the soul. The theory states that each of us already contains the capacity to realize our unique individual possibilities. There is a special ‘something’ that I carry into the world at birth that is particular only to me and is connected to my daimon. This “energy of the soul” will be displayed throughout my whole lifetime and will be expressed in the things that I do in life.
Now back to my computer. It has a daimon living inside it, as has every computer that I have ever owned or worked on. Yours does too. The daimons in our computers periodically express themselves in ways that can range from simply annoying to down right ugly but are mostly just harmless and annoying. Once we understand the unique nature of our particular daimon we will have a happier experience when using our computers as well as the peripheral equipment and networks that are attached to them. And don’t forget, they all have daimons too. Be warned though, uglier daimons are lurking about like shadowy sharks looking for easy pickings and we should have some understanding about their effects too.
My daimons are related to quirks in my Vista operating system as well as with adware that came with some of the programs I have installed on my computer. These adware daimons like to call home regularly to let the manufacturers know what I’m up to and if I need to install an update. There are benign cookies on my computer too but I leave them there as they are convenient when accessing sites that I use on a regular basis. I really make an effort to keep more serious daimons from getting into my computer.
There are as many reasons for the root causes of computer daimon occurrences as there are parts in a computer. In most cases you can live with them as long as you know how to handle them when they arise out of the blue. Others require more attention and are only controlled in the sense that they can be prevented, managed and, in modern times, thwarted. Mid level daimon manifestations such as viruses have more serious consequences and more effort will be required to deal with them. Spyware and adware can be very annoying and jam your internet data flow. The ugliest daimons are evolving in sophistication and can bring mayhem to industrial control systems or threaten the affairs of nations by compromising their information networks. Our own home computers can be directly involved in these very serious incursions.
If your computer suddenly stops responding when you are using it or if you can’t access the internet and you could a second ago, a minor and controllable daimon may be responsible. Usually restarting your computer will clear things up. Just press the power button until the computer shuts down if you can’t turn it off normally. Then turn it right back on again. The daimon will most likely vanish. In the instance where you can’t get on line you can also power down the associated modem or router that connects you to your Internet Provider. If you are using a wireless router along with the provider’s modem or router turn the power off and on with that unit as well. Turning your machines off and then back on again will usually resolve these types of less harmful and controllable daimon visits that occur periodically. There are technical reasons for daimons that work this way but there is not necessarily a fix for them. You really don’t have to know exactly what the cause is to deal with these types of problems. Either they’re temporary network related data confusion issues or are bugs that are system oriented and may or may not be eventually addressed by the associated manufacturer of the software or hardware involved. Don’t worry about them once you’ve determined their nature.
Mid level daimons, such as most viruses and adware are more difficult for most users to analyse. That’s why we depend on relatively sophisticated software products available from companies like MacAfee and Symantec to protect our computers. These corporations spend a lot of time monitoring the threats out there and their security professionals provide regular updates to their programs to detect and remove or manage the unwanted daimon visits. Usually these daimon occurrences are more annoying than dangerous but they can render your computer basically unusable once massively entrenched.
The companies that provide the operating system software used on computers also provide regular security updates to defend against daimon visits. Microsoft even has a free anti-spyware program that you can download called Windows Defender. It’s a good program and I use it because it’s been developed by the same company – Microsoft – that
makes the operating system that I use.
Daimons of a much more serious nature are Worms and Trojan Horses. They can be very destructive to business and home networks. Users rely on the same “anti-daimon’ software as previously mentioned for protection from these uglier manifestations. Your financial resources are vulnerable to these predators as they can be used to determine passwords and related information that you use for on line banking or shopping. They can also consign control of your computer to unscrupulous cyber attackers that use your computers to spread Spam emails and to similarly infect other computers.
The ugliest daimons of all involve a complex and relatively recent evolution of digital attacks that utilize Worms and Trojan Horses to wreak havoc on a national or global scale. Conventionally we have considered such attacks as attempts to steal information and that any damage would be temporary and superficial. We are now identifying incursions where a few lines of code could cause industrial control systems used by power plants and other critical infrastructure to malfunction and shut down. According to an article in the April 2009 issue of Popular Mechanics “many of the control systems in the industrial world were installed years ago with few or no cyber-security features”. Now many of these control systems have been integrated into corporate computer networks that are linked to the internet.
April Fool’s day this year has been heralded as a showdown with a worm known as Conficker. The security experts figure that this worm has infected over three million PC’s already and it’s still growing. Not only is it growing but it’s also evolving in place. The attackers have been patching and upgrading the implanted code in infected PC’s to resist disinfection programs and to improve the worms’ effectiveness. The infected computers form a massive network that is now commonly referred to as a ‘botnet’. They don’t know exactly what the specific intentions are for this particular ‘botnet’ but think that it’s intended to become a huge Spam mailing system. They suspect more to come from this threat but acknowledge that given the resulting publicity that industry and law enforcement efforts will deter any future phases of the worm’s progression.
This past March a ten month investigation by researchers at the University of Toronto uncovered a broad Chinese espionage scheme that forayed into computer networks in foreign embassies, news services, and even the office of the Dalai Lama. The system called GhostNet infects host computers via e-mails. It directs the infected computers to download a Trojan Horse that enables the attackers to gain complete control. This Trojan searches for and downloads files, and can operate attached devices including microphones and cameras. The researchers found out that GhostNet had developed a botnet of over 1300 computers in 103 countries. They don’t know if the attackers have ever benefited from their ‘zombie’ network but insist that this incursion is a wake up call to policy makers as it demonstrates how a relatively simple and unsophisticated technical system could be used to set up a very effective spy network.
From the merely annoying to the costly ugly the prerequisite tactic for dealing with computer daimons is awareness. When you understand how easily your computer can be compromised and how you can protect it then you are on your way to an enjoyable and efficient computing experience. Installing a good security program on your computer, following recommended security maintenance procedures and religiously monitoring and installing security and operating system updates will ensure that you are keeping your computer as safe as possible from attackers. Your Internet Service and Web Mail providers aid your protection efforts by employing their own security measures to keep malware out of your computer and, by extension, their computers as well. As for the much more serious infections, such as Conficker and GhostNet, awareness and effective security software and maintenance are still your best means for protection. These higher level attacks are monitored by security experts on a national and global basis. If the end users take the proper precautions to protect their individual computers and networks they will greatly enhance the endeavours of the security experts and will help to keep the Internet, and your computer, operating smoothly.
By using the term daimon as a metaphor for computer viruses and bugs I am attempting to reduce the aversion that most users have towards the technical descriptions and jargon that are used to describe them. Envisioning a virus or bug as a spirited entity, I think, will make it easier for us to deal with them and will help us to better recognize and control them when they emerge. So get to know your less serious daimons and be fully prepared to engage the more menacing ones.
Gilbert Ryles, a British philosopher, in his book, The Concept of Mind, introduced the phrase the “ghost in the machine”. Ryles was criticizing Rene Descartes’ theories on mind-body dualism. I once read a book by Arthur Koestler that used the phrase in its title.
Koestler’s book targeted mankind’s self destructive urge particularly with regard to the nuclear proliferation occurring at the end of the sixties. The book also had issues with the behaviourist theories of B.F. Skinner. Koestler’s ‘ghost’ was the earlier, more primitive reptilian brain on which our human brain has been built. I found it intriguing that there was possibly an unconscious entity within my psyche that could covertly affect my conscious activity and I wondered if we should extend this disposition to non-human machines and objects that we are involved with on a daily basis.
Can non-human objects or machines have ghosts in them too? Rocks are objects that are unarguably non-human and inanimate. For a brief period in the ‘70’s rocks were playfully sold as pets. We refer to boats and automobiles as “she” in our daily conversations. We get indignant with many of our machines when they don’t perform the way we expect them to. Do our non-human machines have ghosts in them too? If you are an Animist you would likely venture a yes to that question. Wikipedia describes Animism as a philosophical, religious or spiritual idea that souls or spirits exist not only in humans and animals but also in plants, rocks, rivers and even thunder.
Another term, similar to ghost, that we could use to describe the animated shadow living inside of our human and non-human machines is daimon. We apparently aren’t sure of the exact origin of the word in the ancient Greek language. Daimon is the Greek derivative of demon and in this sense means ‘replete with knowledge’. The more exact Greek meaning for daimon is ‘divine power’, ‘fate’, or ‘god’. Early Christians preferred the more derogatory term demon because they didn’t like the idea of an inner voice or figure influencing us. The Romans took a different tack altogether and referred to it as “genius”.
James Hillman, an American Jungian psychologist, in his 1997 book The Soul’s Code: In Search of Character and Calling, developed a theory in which the daimon plays a central role. Hillman presented what he called ‘the acorn theory’ of the soul. The theory states that each of us already contains the capacity to realize our unique individual possibilities. There is a special ‘something’ that I carry into the world at birth that is particular only to me and is connected to my daimon. This “energy of the soul” will be displayed throughout my whole lifetime and will be expressed in the things that I do in life.
Now back to my computer. It has a daimon living inside it, as has every computer that I have ever owned or worked on. Yours does too. The daimons in our computers periodically express themselves in ways that can range from simply annoying to down right ugly but are mostly just harmless and annoying. Once we understand the unique nature of our particular daimon we will have a happier experience when using our computers as well as the peripheral equipment and networks that are attached to them. And don’t forget, they all have daimons too. Be warned though, uglier daimons are lurking about like shadowy sharks looking for easy pickings and we should have some understanding about their effects too.
My daimons are related to quirks in my Vista operating system as well as with adware that came with some of the programs I have installed on my computer. These adware daimons like to call home regularly to let the manufacturers know what I’m up to and if I need to install an update. There are benign cookies on my computer too but I leave them there as they are convenient when accessing sites that I use on a regular basis. I really make an effort to keep more serious daimons from getting into my computer.
There are as many reasons for the root causes of computer daimon occurrences as there are parts in a computer. In most cases you can live with them as long as you know how to handle them when they arise out of the blue. Others require more attention and are only controlled in the sense that they can be prevented, managed and, in modern times, thwarted. Mid level daimon manifestations such as viruses have more serious consequences and more effort will be required to deal with them. Spyware and adware can be very annoying and jam your internet data flow. The ugliest daimons are evolving in sophistication and can bring mayhem to industrial control systems or threaten the affairs of nations by compromising their information networks. Our own home computers can be directly involved in these very serious incursions.
If your computer suddenly stops responding when you are using it or if you can’t access the internet and you could a second ago, a minor and controllable daimon may be responsible. Usually restarting your computer will clear things up. Just press the power button until the computer shuts down if you can’t turn it off normally. Then turn it right back on again. The daimon will most likely vanish. In the instance where you can’t get on line you can also power down the associated modem or router that connects you to your Internet Provider. If you are using a wireless router along with the provider’s modem or router turn the power off and on with that unit as well. Turning your machines off and then back on again will usually resolve these types of less harmful and controllable daimon visits that occur periodically. There are technical reasons for daimons that work this way but there is not necessarily a fix for them. You really don’t have to know exactly what the cause is to deal with these types of problems. Either they’re temporary network related data confusion issues or are bugs that are system oriented and may or may not be eventually addressed by the associated manufacturer of the software or hardware involved. Don’t worry about them once you’ve determined their nature.
Mid level daimons, such as most viruses and adware are more difficult for most users to analyse. That’s why we depend on relatively sophisticated software products available from companies like MacAfee and Symantec to protect our computers. These corporations spend a lot of time monitoring the threats out there and their security professionals provide regular updates to their programs to detect and remove or manage the unwanted daimon visits. Usually these daimon occurrences are more annoying than dangerous but they can render your computer basically unusable once massively entrenched.
The companies that provide the operating system software used on computers also provide regular security updates to defend against daimon visits. Microsoft even has a free anti-spyware program that you can download called Windows Defender. It’s a good program and I use it because it’s been developed by the same company – Microsoft – that
makes the operating system that I use.
Daimons of a much more serious nature are Worms and Trojan Horses. They can be very destructive to business and home networks. Users rely on the same “anti-daimon’ software as previously mentioned for protection from these uglier manifestations. Your financial resources are vulnerable to these predators as they can be used to determine passwords and related information that you use for on line banking or shopping. They can also consign control of your computer to unscrupulous cyber attackers that use your computers to spread Spam emails and to similarly infect other computers.
The ugliest daimons of all involve a complex and relatively recent evolution of digital attacks that utilize Worms and Trojan Horses to wreak havoc on a national or global scale. Conventionally we have considered such attacks as attempts to steal information and that any damage would be temporary and superficial. We are now identifying incursions where a few lines of code could cause industrial control systems used by power plants and other critical infrastructure to malfunction and shut down. According to an article in the April 2009 issue of Popular Mechanics “many of the control systems in the industrial world were installed years ago with few or no cyber-security features”. Now many of these control systems have been integrated into corporate computer networks that are linked to the internet.
April Fool’s day this year has been heralded as a showdown with a worm known as Conficker. The security experts figure that this worm has infected over three million PC’s already and it’s still growing. Not only is it growing but it’s also evolving in place. The attackers have been patching and upgrading the implanted code in infected PC’s to resist disinfection programs and to improve the worms’ effectiveness. The infected computers form a massive network that is now commonly referred to as a ‘botnet’. They don’t know exactly what the specific intentions are for this particular ‘botnet’ but think that it’s intended to become a huge Spam mailing system. They suspect more to come from this threat but acknowledge that given the resulting publicity that industry and law enforcement efforts will deter any future phases of the worm’s progression.
This past March a ten month investigation by researchers at the University of Toronto uncovered a broad Chinese espionage scheme that forayed into computer networks in foreign embassies, news services, and even the office of the Dalai Lama. The system called GhostNet infects host computers via e-mails. It directs the infected computers to download a Trojan Horse that enables the attackers to gain complete control. This Trojan searches for and downloads files, and can operate attached devices including microphones and cameras. The researchers found out that GhostNet had developed a botnet of over 1300 computers in 103 countries. They don’t know if the attackers have ever benefited from their ‘zombie’ network but insist that this incursion is a wake up call to policy makers as it demonstrates how a relatively simple and unsophisticated technical system could be used to set up a very effective spy network.
From the merely annoying to the costly ugly the prerequisite tactic for dealing with computer daimons is awareness. When you understand how easily your computer can be compromised and how you can protect it then you are on your way to an enjoyable and efficient computing experience. Installing a good security program on your computer, following recommended security maintenance procedures and religiously monitoring and installing security and operating system updates will ensure that you are keeping your computer as safe as possible from attackers. Your Internet Service and Web Mail providers aid your protection efforts by employing their own security measures to keep malware out of your computer and, by extension, their computers as well. As for the much more serious infections, such as Conficker and GhostNet, awareness and effective security software and maintenance are still your best means for protection. These higher level attacks are monitored by security experts on a national and global basis. If the end users take the proper precautions to protect their individual computers and networks they will greatly enhance the endeavours of the security experts and will help to keep the Internet, and your computer, operating smoothly.
By using the term daimon as a metaphor for computer viruses and bugs I am attempting to reduce the aversion that most users have towards the technical descriptions and jargon that are used to describe them. Envisioning a virus or bug as a spirited entity, I think, will make it easier for us to deal with them and will help us to better recognize and control them when they emerge. So get to know your less serious daimons and be fully prepared to engage the more menacing ones.
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