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Origin of 'Daemon' in Computing

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236 points wizerno | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.244s | source
1. bitwize ◴[] No.41896752[source]
I remember learning about Maxwell's Daemon through the Apple II game Dr. Maxwell's Molecule Magic, in which you take the role of the daemon. You must toggle the barrier on and off in order to trap enough gas molecules at high enough pressure to launch a rocket ship. Once you think you have enough, you can then launch the rocket to see how well you did. If you were successful, the rocket would blast off the screen and an image would show of an astronaut on the moon saying "Hi, Mom!" (Speech was provided via PWM through the Apple II speaker.)

Eleven-year-old me was easy to entertain. Especially if rockets, robots, or science was involved.