IT superstitions: Astrology, sacrifice, and demons
People who work in IT have a certain reputation for being logical, rational, and unswayed by the mysterious or supernatural. Many techies would like the outside world to see their fraternity as a band of Mr. Spocks, solving problems with the same dispassionate logic that drives the machines and networks that they tend.
But if that's so, why is there another strand in computer lore, with oft-retold tales of voodoo-powered rubber chickens that can fix a PDP-11, or of magic switches that could crash a computer in defiance of physical laws?
Naomi Kritzer, a sci-fi and fantasy author who's had a chance to observe techies in their native environment, says, "I would love to see someone write a book about animism among computer professionals, because despite the fact that they're supposed to be the dispassionate logical people, they all believe that the computer has a consciousness -- a malevolent consciousness that is doubtless out to get them." And so, to get ready for Halloween, let's examine the superstitions and irrational beliefs that lurk beneath the surface of our seemingly rationalist industry.
From folk magic to the occult
Photo by IntangibleArts
Some IT superstitions are, well, pretty much the same superstitions held by everyone else. "I seem to do a lot of knocking on wood," says Jeffrey Powers of Geekazine.com. "I suppose it's because my desk is made of wood." Reed Carpenter, a software tester for Canon at Microsoft, has a close and somewhat more IT-focused variation: "When I have a system meltdown (bluescreen, etc.) and have to reboot, I always tap my mouse on the desk three times."
Those seem low-impact enough, but some get deeper into atypical analysis. George Nemeth, a service management specialist at Opitem, is in tune with astrology, keeping a particular eye out for Mercury retrograde. "Just before this astrological phenomenon happens, I start getting calls from people with Website and email problems. It's uncanny!" He never really followed astrology much, he said, but "my fiancee pointed out how much busier I got around Mercury retrograde. It became a joke between my co-worker and I on a weekly email newsletter I used to do. Things tended to go awry for no good reason."
When it comes to other systems of belief, techies are willing to go pretty far afield if they're desperate. Michael Robinson says, "Some years ago I directed a small team developing a frame grabber -- a board that would digitize a video signal from a television camera and place it in computer memory. For some reason we just could not get it to work properly. I promised the group I would bring in a demon to help us find the problem."
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I love techie eccentricities!
Tiger Woods wears a red shirt during the final round in tournaments, so why shouldn't IT folks have their own traditions - eccentric or otherwise? Makes things interesting! Love to hear more!psychology and mysticism
actually a good chunk of it, especially the part about personifying computers and other machinery, has roots in some long standing practices, particularly shamancraft, which in many traditions holds perfectly logical that the important tools in your life rely upon you for creation, maintenance, and development; just as you rely on them to perform their given functions. Thus, you have a relationship. even psychologically it makes sense that by giving something a name and even treating it as conscious we can often build a better working relationship with it. It is important to remember though, that while your computer may be conscious, it is in it's own way; It is not a human, or a cat or any other entity besides a computer and as such has needs specific to it's form of existence; best to be accordingly attentive and flexible.while some ritual behavior can help us center ourselves in a given task, others can be needlessly exhausting both mentally and physically. If you believe your superstitions are possibly interfering negatively with your life, try re-evaluating your patterns and if needed find someone qualified to help you out. When you dig far enough, there is a logical, though not always functional root to every habit we pick up. Other than that, keep an open mind; just make sure the outgoing door works as well as the in and that neither is so open that your brain should fall out.