The Schizophrenic Programmer Who Built an OS To Talk To God 452
rossgneumann writes: Terry Davis, a schizophrenic programmer, has spent 10 years building an operating system to talk to God. He's done this work because God told him to. According to the TempleOS charter, it is "God's official temple. Just like Solomon's temple, this is a community focal point where offerings are made and God's oracle is consulted." [The TempleOS V2.17 welcome screen] greets the user with a riot of 16-color, scrolling, blinking text; depending on your frame of reference, it might recall DESQview, the Commodore 64, or a host of early DOS-based graphical user interfaces. In style if not in specifics, it evokes a particular era, a time when the then-new concept of "personal computing" necessarily meant programming and tinkering and breaking things.
Hmmm ... (Score:5, Interesting)
While this is creepy, and might be interesting in a clinical sense ... why have we started covering the crazy end of the tech spectrum?
I'm afraid this just reads like "batshit crazy guy writes gibberish OS, come look at our ads".
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clickbait.
Re:Hmmm ... (Score:5, Insightful)
640x480 is not just enough for everyone... (Score:3)
It's a COVENANT. Like circumcision.
You know... for kids.
God also told Davis that 640x480, 16-color graphics "is a covenant like circumcision," making it easier for children to make drawings for God.
Hmmm ... (Score:3, Funny)
I heard the kernel now supports some advanced calling conventions, such as the one where you scream while all the registers crab-walk pieces of your dismembered mind across the room and shove them onto the stack.
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And if you dig deeper into the code and get down to the electrical level, you start hearing the sound of the universe.
Ohmmmm.
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Yes, he's ill. But the OS he wrote is better than any I've written so far--how about you?
Crazy doesn't mean stupid.
Re:Hmmm ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Not sure, it's been a while ... message-passing, multi-tasking microkernel in the early 90s. Hand-rolled bare-metal HD drive controller and interrupt stack, with full ability to read and write FAT filesystems from reading the specs from the technical manual.
Haven't felt the need since OS class.
I have no idea what his does, I had to block the image of the scrolling glimpse into the abyss which was the screenshot of the OS before it induced a seizure.
Nor does it mean "newsworthy".
I've known a couple of schizophrenics and various people with varying degrees mental illness. What I would not do is subject most of them to the interwebs without a buffer between them and what happens.
Does pandering to showing the OS someone with schizophrenia wrote help them in any way? Is what he writes actually healthy for him? Or does it just let him wallow in some of his obsessions?
So, sure, it's definitely blinking and flashing. Does it actually do anything other than embed his own rituals? I have no idea.
Re:Hmmm ... (Score:4, Interesting)
I have no idea what his does
Here's a peek:
God said 640x480 16 color graphics is a covenant like circumcision. Children
will do offerings. Think of 16 colors like the Simpson's cartoons.
I wonder if God suggested The Simpsons as a frame of reference.
We do not put any hooks for future changes. "Perfect" means we always act as
though it is final, for all time. Microsoft allowed the Windows BMP file format
to adapt to the future and it became grotesque.
There is a limit of 100,000 lines of code for all time, not including
applications and demos. Code comments count, however. 3rd party libraries are
banned because they circumvent the intent of this limit. The vision is a
Commodore 64 ROM -- a fixed core API that is the only dependency of
applications. Currently, there are 80,668 lines of code.
One platform. x86_64 PC compatibles.
One driver for each class of device. Limited exceptions are allowed. With
divergent device capabilities, it is a nightmare for user applications and what
is gained? A three button mouse is like a leg you cannot put weight on.
No networking, so malware is not an issue.
No encryption or passwords. Files are compressed, not encrypted.
Documents are not for printing. They're dynamic, intended for the screen.
Just one 8x8 fixed-width font. No Unicode, just Extended ASCII.
No multimedia. Sounds and images will be primarily calculated in real-time,
not fetched from storage.
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After Egypt might be a fun game.......sort of an RPG that reminds me of Wasteland......
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Here's a peek:
We do not put any hooks for future changes. "Perfect" means we always act as though it is final, for all time.
Documents are not for printing. They're dynamic, intended for the screen.
Documents are dynamic? But it's already perfect right from the start! Nothing can be changed! Heretic!
Re:Hmmm ... (Score:5, Funny)
What do you mean? We've always covered the GPL.
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Re:Hmmm ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Not just creepy and crazy - but also a regular commenter here on Slashdot.
http://slashdot.org/~templeos [slashdot.org]
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But nearly every day before that. I guess he's really been working on his OS.
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Bennett Haselton is the alter-ego of Terry? It all makes sense now...
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Look before that - almost daily visits. I guess he took an 8-month trip down the rabbit hole.
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Why would you waste your time posting on slashdot (or anywhere on the internet) if you were having a manic or depressive episode?
Wouldn't you have more pressing things to concern yourself with?
I can't speak for manic episodes, but going through a major depressive episode doesn't mean that I'm totally incapable of doing anything at all. The last few months was my latest "down time", I couldn't even stay awake more than a few hours at a time, continuous invasive thoughts of suicide when I was awake, nothing seemed worth it, etc. It happens when you have PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and MDD (major depressive disorder).
Maintaining at least some semblance of routine, of interest in somethi
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Come on, is he really any crazier than most programmers?
He's not much crazier then most religious peeps I've known.
Ah, just a brief reminder, you are talking about the same person in this particular case.
I'm not saying the nutjob level scales perfectly with the combination of the two, but hey if the bible thumps...
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Some of it isn't so crazy.
Low line count is the highest good, so it is easy to learn the whole thing.
Minimal abstraction is a goal. Sheep are fools. They always respect a design
that is more complicated than another. Any genius can make it complicated.
Free and public domain.
100% open source with all source included.
Now I wouldn't subscribe to his newsletter (and not just because I'm an atheist), but ...
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100,000? Humbug!
We need to adhere to Biblical software standards. 10 commandments, that's all you need.
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What *is* 100,000 in cubits, anyway?
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A type mismatch, that's what; pure number vs. length.
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Clearly comments are a sin against functionality, wasting valuable working room with pointless explanations.
Personally I liked
> No networking, so malware is not an issue.
Obviously they aren't familiar with the thriving disk-born malware environment that existed when sneakernet was the only "network" in existence. Or maybe they mean that it will only be capable of running software written from the ground up on that machine - it wont even let you hand-copy code listings from another machine. Which might
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Who would bother writing malware for this?
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Satan?
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Currently, there are 80,668 lines of code.
Which is interesting, since the OS has nine billion names [downlode.org].
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Ob (Score:5, Insightful)
At least he didn't create systemd, gnome3, or the Windows 8 UI.
Re:Ob (Score:5, Funny)
Or any kind of demons.
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Whoosh.
Either way, the pun is over the biblical unilateral pro-god nature of the OS.
No de[a]mons there.
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He is schizophrenic. Not sadistic.
All Glory to the HypnoToad (Score:5, Funny)
"[The TempleOS V2.17 welcome screen] greets the user with a riot of 16-color, scrolling, blinking text; depending on your frame of reference"
Does talking to "God" involve having an epileptic seizure?
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Does talking to "God" involve having an epileptic seizure?
No, usually it involves stealing a spaceship.
Re:All Glory to the HypnoToad (Score:4, Funny)
Excuse me, what does God need with a starship?
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All gods need starships.
How else would they come from A to B?
Oh, you mean that mythical god, nevermind ...
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No - it mostly involves having a random number generator spit out Bible verses out of context:
http://slashdot.org/~templeos [slashdot.org]
Be Gentle With Him (Score:5, Insightful)
I remember that this individual caught a lot of flack for his OS in the past - he really does have a significant behavioral disorder, so if you provide feedback, do so in the gentlest of terms. He's a good guy with a difficult problem and a fun project.
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Many good men are. Others are liars, or thieves, or adulterers. All men have their sins. Yours is self-righteousness.
Oh, please (Score:2)
No, they aren't. If you're racist, it's more than a "sin", it's an abject failure of humanity. Just the kind of thing that gets people hurt badly, often in large numbers. Your sin here is failing to recognize evil when it's right in your face.
There's no worthy point in this. None of these actions can serve to exonerate racism, or racists. The only cure for racism is to abandon it as a failed mode of thought. Every thinking being is an i
Re:Oh, please (Score:4, Interesting)
He's a schizophrenic, after first being diagnosed as bipolar. The world he sees is not, in many ways, the world we live in. His use of the "n" word when attacked on-line crossed the bounds of our social conventions, but I wouldn't rule out some form of aphasia as well - some words don't seem to mean the same to him as to you or I.
After all, he calls himself an atheist, but God has commanded him to build an OS, and this doesn't engender any cognitive dissonance - to the contrary, it "proves" that God is speaking to him. And he's only taking one of his medications ...
Mental health issues are not cut-and-dried. Try living with a serious mental illness for a while and then get back to us, mkay? It's not as easy as you think.
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Some people are intrinsically good; and some issues are not sins [...] The idea that all are born with/into sin is a superstitious notion with absolutely no root in reality.
You believe in sin but original sin is a superstition? I would think those would kind of be in the same belief space.
I'm also under the impression that if you don't believe in salvation, you don't call it sin.
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A facist is not a good man. (Oh, ent to type racist, but facist is just as good)
Actually, I'm free of sins, no idea anout you, though.
But good luck with your life if you 'believe' 1500 year old 'wrong' christian 'stereotypes' make any sense ...
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Actually, I'm free of sins, no idea anout you, though.
Spelling, typing, and egregious usage of single quotes count.
Re:Be Gentle With Him (Score:5, Insightful)
your "good guy" is a racist.
Continually find myself entertained by self appointed judges... many of whom claim to worship at the church of tolerance.
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your "good guy" is a racist.
Continually find myself entertained by self appointed judges... many of whom claim to worship at the church of tolerance.
Describing someone who uses multiple offensive epithets like "nigger" as racist is not being intolerant, it is pointing out the truth.
You can debate whether he means it (because of his mental illness) and even whether being racist is right or wrong, but that doesn't change the meaning of what he wrote.
None is saying that racists should not be permitted to speak, merely that they should expect a lot of negative consequences, just as if they were defending Nazism or child abuse.
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I love how "racist" is up there with "terrorist" and "pedophile" on the list of words that we're supposed to instantly fly into a rage about.
Except one of those 3 doesn't get heckled on Slashdot. Hmm...
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To show that you're a decent human being. If you know someone has a problem, "poking the bear" can cause that person to get worse or even snap. Someone with a behavioral problem has found an outlet that doesn't involve injuring themselves or other people (either intentionally or unintentionally). If you think this is a cool idea ( I think it's actually pretty awesome ), good for you. If you think it's stupid, just leave him alone.
Not that I disagree with you, but it is horribly ironic that we should find compassion here when organized religion has been at the root of man killing each other for thousands of years now.
Talk about poking the bear..
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Not that I disagree with you, but it is horribly ironic that we should find compassion here when organized religion has been at the root of man killing each other for thousands of years now.
And I find it equally ironic that you have used italics when the luminescence of anglerfish is caused by symbiotic bacteria which dwell around the esca.
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The people who are the real problems are "normal", but use religion as an excuse for their bad behavior, or those who follow religion so blindly that they do bad things because of group pressure.
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Why?
Does the word "smitten" ring a bell?
Mock those less fortunate and be smitten with the same issue...
Talk to God and it is protected as a human right, God talks back and they medicate you or lock you up...
futhermore... (Score:2)
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Noah of the computing age (Score:3)
You'll be sorry! Just wait for the flood of viruses to come and we'll see who's laughing then!
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Are You Sure (Score:2)
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Are you sure he's not also Dyslexic?
Oh, I get it - he made an OS to talk to DOG. I talk to mine all the time.
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Or, his SO talks to the DOG.
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Nope. Else his question would be "Sit here a dog?"
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Would have been easier if they'd named it with a palindrome.
IEC 61508-3 anyone? (Score:2)
If it talks to God, it should be ideal for safety critical systems.
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It'll kill people by the millions. Spontaneously conjuring plagues and first-born viruses.
Re:IEC 61508-3 anyone? (Score:4, Funny)
Have you tried version 2.0 yet? It replaced those with loaves and fishes. Has a recurring 3-day downtime though.
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Yes, but we can schedule a work stoppage around that time.
As a psycho-sociological artifact, I am interested (Score:2)
I haven't had professional need recently to install Virtualbox, but this spurs me to it. I actually want to see this and find it interesting.
Bat$hit Crazy? (Score:2)
No thanks (Score:2)
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Don't worry. Jesus SAVES!
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... after every level.
Re:No thanks (Score:5, Funny)
Nah. Just at the endgame. You're thinking of Buddha.
OS? Here's a small shellscript (Score:2)
#! /bin/bash
read prayers
echo "Meh."
exit
Sure, why not? (Score:2)
If a bunch of dudes 2000+ years ago could talk directly to the Abrahamic God, and one in particular through a burning bush, why not some dude in the modern days through a computer?
If Terry Davis isn't a real prophet today, then why can't we call the prophets in the Bible schizophrenic?
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Holy shit! It was all a lie! Thank you, Internet atheist who posts to a technology website!
Who the hell wrote this article? (Score:2)
Not as crazy as it seems (Score:2)
I read the charter.
And as crazy it seems, I kinda love it.
I mean, its not like I'd ever use such a machine for day to day work.
But, it could actually be pretty awesome as a learning machine or "toy" for young programmers. Kinda like the C64 it pays homage to.
Church of Pong (Score:2)
For some reason this reminded me of the "Church of Pong" in Neuromancer.
GOD and the 10 commands (Score:2)
GOD said to split it into two pages. Then GOD saidth, Upon each, thou shalt place five, not three and not four, but five commands. And, he saw it was good.
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And God responds back... (Score:3)
GLaDOS says: "Well it's about bloomin' time. Go reattach that part that fell off me already."
Clippy says: "You appear to be writing a holy book. Would you like to change my appearance to one of my 666 skins before I begin to hel...p? "
Oh there's a story here? (Score:2)
Oh yeah, so the intersection of a crazy and computer science brought this to life... oh great.
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Fuck, I barely speak English, I don't want to learn a new language.
English is fine. PHP on the other hand, is not.
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Well, God ain't really known for working well with colleagues.
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Oh great. Exactly what we need, a schism.
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* God said 640x480 16 color graphics is a covenant like circumcision.
In that case, we need a better god.
Nonsense. A monochrome monitor on an old hercules card (720x350x8 pages video ram for text, 720x348x2 pages graphics) is much simpler - and simplicity is what his god wants, right? Ergo, he is serving a false god.
(oh, those were the days ... early dual monitor setups that could show the code on one screen, the output on another, when everyone else was stuck with video page-flpping).
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He's been a schizophrenic for almost 2 decades. He lives with his parents because he couldn't make it in the outside world. What he's doing is harmless.
There's a reason it's called 'mental illness'; because illnesses should be treated.
And if you had read the article you'd know he's taking medication.
And while I agree with your statement that mental illnesses should be treated, there's such a stigma attached to mental illness that people actively resist seeking help, and others, the illness prevents them from seeking help. And unless you're in a crisis situation, for most people it's
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Or perhaps American ghosts are simply darker and more violent than most places. We did build the nation atop a giant Indian graveyard after all. :D
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It says in the first sentence of the summary how long he worked on it. Do you have the attention span of a gnat?
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He didn't say asshole so probably not.
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It's a toy OS not a production system.
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He's schizophrenic.
He's a programmer.
He wrote an OS that he says is for talking to God.
Which one of these is nonfactual or biased?
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And on that we can all agree.