6 ms·

>I chose the name SerenityOS because I wanted to always remember the Serenity Prayer. Whats with operating systems and religion

by o_p 5y ago

pengaru 5y ago
> Whats with operating systems and religion Confirmation bias; religion is everywhere, no reason to expect it to be exceptionally absent from computing/programming/operating systems etc.
sbarre 5y ago
Have you never been in a debate about vim vs. emacs?
- hedberg10 5y ago
  There is no debate.
  - whatshisface 5y ago
    I think Vim won by virtue of already being installed.
    - jraph 5y ago
      Ehhh. Vi is already installed, and it is often not Vim. Nano, on the other hand...
dwrowe 5y ago
He opened with the explanation of doing this after coming out of rehab for drug addiction - I wouldn’t say it is related to “religion”, rather a nod/reminder for himself in why he’s doing it. Nothing beyond that it seems.
phaemon 5y ago
You need to be pretty smart to write an OS, and only dumb people and smart people are religious. Atheism is the belief for mediocre minds. ;)
- HideousKojima 5y ago
  Just like yhe midwit meme: https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/2054904-iq-bell-curve-midwit https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/2054904-iq-bell-curve-midwit
  - phaemon 5y ago
    I'd not heard of that but it seems fairly accurate. It seems related to pg's idea of middle-brow dismissal.
- jagger27 5y ago
  Care to expand on those bold assertions?
  - phaemon 5y ago
    I'm not sure what you consider bold about the assertions so it's difficult to expand. I am certainly not the sharpest tool in the shed, and I'm religious, so that provides at least circumstantial evidence for my initial statement. Do you think I should consider that atheists could be dumb too? Most of the ones I've spoken to seem fairly convinced that they're reasonably smart.
    - jagger27 5y ago
      Alright it's clear you're only here to rile people up. Not sure why you think that's appropriate here.
      - phaemon 5y ago
        It's appropriate because it will improve your thinking to consider that I might just be right. Edit: I happened to see your response since deleted. Don't worry, I'm not offended. I will say that HN at its best invites intellectual exploration. Take all your comments in this thread and look at them. What thoughts did you provoke? What did you add?
slackfan 5y ago
Proper software development is indistinguishable from mysticism.
nwsm 5y ago
I suspect you have 1 other example. How many can you come up with that have nothing to do with religion?
- whatshisface 5y ago
  The one other example is obviously either FreeBSD, whose mascot is a demon, or OSX, which itself is a religion. ;)
  - krapp 5y ago
    Also, for better or worse, TempleOS.
    - nwsm 5y ago
      This is what I was referencing. Though I think the other poster may know and was making a joke.
dotcommand 5y ago
> Whats with operating systems and religion Many daemons lurk in OSes. Sometimes religion provides the comfort and safety you need to face the horrors hiding in operating systems.
NikolaNovak 5y ago
I'm a relatively vocal atheist, but Serenity Prayer is a pretty useful/accepted creed to live by if you can get over the very first word, so I can't say it bothers me much; and while I realize there's one other OS that's much more explicitly religion-oriented, I'm not sure it's quite a significant pattern yet... "(God), give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."
- jagger27 5y ago
  This is the version I'm familiar with: God, grant me the Serenity To accept the things I cannot change... Courage to change the things I can, And Wisdom to know the difference.
  - bombcar 5y ago
    It's basically "should I use sudo or not" as a prayer.
HideousKojima 5y ago
Don't go hating on my boy Terry (pbuh): "The got rid of CD/DVD. they are coming for our guns."
- Cyberdog 5y ago
  "You know the secret? The difference between heaven and hell? It's, like, doing your work. You feel really shitty if you don't do your work. If you do your work, it's fucking awesome."
supernintendo 5y ago
The majority of the human population is religious. Software is generally created by humans so it doesn’t seem unlikely that some of that influence would rub off on their work (same as any other work of art really).
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
dang 5y ago
Please don't post flamebait and/or unsubstantive comments here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Edit: unfortunately it looks like that's basically all you've been posting to HN. We ban such accounts, so I've banned this one. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.

>I chose the name SerenityOS because I wanted to always remember the Serenity Prayer. Whats with operating systems and religion

by o_p 5y ago

>I chose the name SerenityOS because I wanted to always remember the Serenity Prayer. Whats with operating systems and religion

pengaru 5y ago

> Whats with operating systems and religion Confirmation bias; religion is everywhere, no reason to expect it to be exceptionally absent from computing/programming/operating systems etc.

sbarre 5y ago

Have you never been in a debate about vim vs. emacs?

hedberg10 5y ago
There is no debate.
- whatshisface 5y ago
  I think Vim won by virtue of already being installed.
  - jraph 5y ago
    Ehhh. Vi is already installed, and it is often not Vim. Nano, on the other hand...

dwrowe 5y ago

He opened with the explanation of doing this after coming out of rehab for drug addiction - I wouldn’t say it is related to “religion”, rather a nod/reminder for himself in why he’s doing it. Nothing beyond that it seems.

phaemon 5y ago

You need to be pretty smart to write an OS, and only dumb people and smart people are religious. Atheism is the belief for mediocre minds. ;)

HideousKojima 5y ago
Just like yhe midwit meme: https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/2054904-iq-bell-curve-midwit https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/2054904-iq-bell-curve-midwit
- phaemon 5y ago
  I'd not heard of that but it seems fairly accurate. It seems related to pg's idea of middle-brow dismissal.
jagger27 5y ago
Care to expand on those bold assertions?
- phaemon 5y ago
  I'm not sure what you consider bold about the assertions so it's difficult to expand. I am certainly not the sharpest tool in the shed, and I'm religious, so that provides at least circumstantial evidence for my initial statement. Do you think I should consider that atheists could be dumb too? Most of the ones I've spoken to seem fairly convinced that they're reasonably smart.
  - jagger27 5y ago
    Alright it's clear you're only here to rile people up. Not sure why you think that's appropriate here.
    - phaemon 5y ago
      It's appropriate because it will improve your thinking to consider that I might just be right. Edit: I happened to see your response since deleted. Don't worry, I'm not offended. I will say that HN at its best invites intellectual exploration. Take all your comments in this thread and look at them. What thoughts did you provoke? What did you add?

slackfan 5y ago

Proper software development is indistinguishable from mysticism.

nwsm 5y ago

I suspect you have 1 other example. How many can you come up with that have nothing to do with religion?

whatshisface 5y ago
The one other example is obviously either FreeBSD, whose mascot is a demon, or OSX, which itself is a religion. ;)
- krapp 5y ago
  Also, for better or worse, TempleOS.
  - nwsm 5y ago
    This is what I was referencing. Though I think the other poster may know and was making a joke.

dotcommand 5y ago

> Whats with operating systems and religion Many daemons lurk in OSes. Sometimes religion provides the comfort and safety you need to face the horrors hiding in operating systems.

NikolaNovak 5y ago

I'm a relatively vocal atheist, but Serenity Prayer is a pretty useful/accepted creed to live by if you can get over the very first word, so I can't say it bothers me much; and while I realize there's one other OS that's much more explicitly religion-oriented, I'm not sure it's quite a significant pattern yet... "(God), give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."

jagger27 5y ago
This is the version I'm familiar with: God, grant me the Serenity To accept the things I cannot change... Courage to change the things I can, And Wisdom to know the difference.
- bombcar 5y ago
  It's basically "should I use sudo or not" as a prayer.

HideousKojima 5y ago

Don't go hating on my boy Terry (pbuh): "The got rid of CD/DVD. they are coming for our guns."

Cyberdog 5y ago
"You know the secret? The difference between heaven and hell? It's, like, doing your work. You feel really shitty if you don't do your work. If you do your work, it's fucking awesome."

supernintendo 5y ago

The majority of the human population is religious. Software is generally created by humans so it doesn’t seem unlikely that some of that influence would rub off on their work (same as any other work of art really).

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

dang 5y ago

Please don't post flamebait and/or unsubstantive comments here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Edit: unfortunately it looks like that's basically all you've been posting to HN. We ban such accounts, so I've banned this one. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.