ghost in the machine

plural ghosts in the machine · plural ghosts in machines

1. human sciencesA metaphor for, and criticism of, the Cartesian dualist conception of a human being as a physical body ("the machine") controlled by an immaterial mind ("the ghost").

   The doctrines of the Blank Slate, the Noble Savage, and the Ghost in the Machine—or, as philosophers call them, empiricism, romanticism, and dualism—are logically independent, but in practice they are often found together.

   2002, Steven Pinker, chapter 1, in The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, Penguin, →ISBN, page 10

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   Now the dogma of the Ghost in the Machine does just this. It maintains that there exist both bodies and minds; that there occur physical processes and mental processes; that there are mechanical causes of corporeal movements and mental causes of corporeal movements.

   1949, Gilbert Ryle, The Concept of Mind, Hutchinson, page 22

2. popularlyA apparent intelligence within a machine, computer system, or other technology, as invoked to explain seemingly purposeful actions, mysterious glitches, or unexpected behaviour.

   [headline] Bank aims to bust the ghosts in the machine.

   1993 July 24, The Times, London, page 23, column 1

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   Hence it was that the computer introduced itself to Timmy and asked him if he was a boy or girl. Then, when Timmy lisped that he was a boy, the ghost in the machine snapped back "No you're not. You're a girl!" Timmy, far from warming to this badinage and telling it that it had gone microsoft in the head, was prostrated with terror and horror and could not be consoled.

   1987 October 9, The Canberra Times, page 2, column 4

   What is left is electrons bouncing in a box: relationships between frequencies, a dance of shadows without substance, a phantasmagorical presence, the ghosts in the machine.

   1992 April 1, Filmnews, Sydney, page 7, column 2

   Chelsea can play beautifully when things click. But there are still ghosts in the machine.

   1998 September 22, The Guardian, London, page 14, column 2

3. horrorliteratureA spirit or alien entity that temporarily inhabits a vehicle, piece of machinery, or computer system.

   Finally, we bring you a classic sf novella. Hard sf writer Jerry Oltion has written a ghost in the machine story — only this ghost is the machine, the ultimate American machine: an Apollo space capsule.

   1996 October 28, The Magazine Of Fantasy & Science Fiction, page 242

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   Dodger told of his capture and the room of mirrors, his voice becoming hushed as he described the persona construct that echoed his own. Listening to the story of the Elf's flight and escape, Sam would probably have dismissed the tale if it had come from anyone else. It sounded like another Ghost in the Machine story.

   1990, Robert N. Charrette, Shadowrun: Never Deal with a Dragon, New York: Penguin Books, page 375