Terry A. Davis (1969-2018)
September 11, 2018 5:28 AM Subscribe
Terry Davis, creator of TempleOS (originally called LoseThos) - the biblically-themed operating system discussed previously, previouslier, and previousliest - passed away in mid-August while travelling on "his Great Western Adventure" through Nevada, Arizona, California, Washington and Oregon.
Terry died in an apparent train accident in The Dalles, Oregon (sub. req.)
In the wake of his passing, his family has requested supporters of his donate to "organizations working to ease the pain and suffering caused by mental illness" such as:
Terry died in an apparent train accident in The Dalles, Oregon (sub. req.)
In the wake of his passing, his family has requested supporters of his donate to "organizations working to ease the pain and suffering caused by mental illness" such as:
The "previousliest" link in the OP includes participation from Terry: There was a period when he was responding to any discussions of LoseThos anywhere on the internet, and that included Metafilter.
posted by ardgedee at 5:48 AM on September 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by ardgedee at 5:48 AM on September 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
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posted by quinndexter at 5:58 AM on September 11, 2018
posted by quinndexter at 5:58 AM on September 11, 2018
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Computational theology has been greatly impoverished by his passing.
posted by acb at 5:59 AM on September 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
Computational theology has been greatly impoverished by his passing.
posted by acb at 5:59 AM on September 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
I saw an article about his passing, and had to pause a minute.
A few centuries ago, when religion permeated a lot of culture and when science was called "natural philosophy," it would have been less remarkable for someone to create an enormous work of the mind and center it all on God. These days we're more secular, and people can either have a "passion" or a "hobby" that they pour their labor into.
R.I.P., Terry, you built something wholly your own.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:04 AM on September 11, 2018 [20 favorites]
A few centuries ago, when religion permeated a lot of culture and when science was called "natural philosophy," it would have been less remarkable for someone to create an enormous work of the mind and center it all on God. These days we're more secular, and people can either have a "passion" or a "hobby" that they pour their labor into.
R.I.P., Terry, you built something wholly your own.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:04 AM on September 11, 2018 [20 favorites]
That previousliest link is something. His interactions in that thread almost feels like some kind of guerilla style art, but I realize it's much more than that. I'm not trying to make light of his work or his interactions on MetaFilter, as I can also see he struggled with mental health and was very driven and passionate about his work/beliefs. What an interesting man.
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posted by Fizz at 6:11 AM on September 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
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posted by Fizz at 6:11 AM on September 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
The little I know, and the littler I understand, of his life and work, suggest to me someone who, despite the massive burdens of his illness, was trying to make something worthwhile in the short life we each get. He seems to have been the only person capable of making an assessment about whether he succeeded. I am sorry for all the pain that he clearly endured, and grateful for whatever determination or defiance impelled him to keep struggling to achieve something that mattered very deeply to him.
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posted by howfar at 6:38 AM on September 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
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posted by howfar at 6:38 AM on September 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
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I still think think about this Metafilter comment he made sometimes:
posted by the_querulous_night at 6:53 AM on September 11, 2018 [16 favorites]
I still think think about this Metafilter comment he made sometimes:
How do you measure how much work God does in a random event?
posted by the_querulous_night at 6:53 AM on September 11, 2018 [16 favorites]
I do too.
You have to take God with a grain of salt. He's not prophetic. All you can do is love His company
Lots to parse there, and in his other comments for that matter.
posted by RolandOfEld at 7:20 AM on September 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
You have to take God with a grain of salt. He's not prophetic. All you can do is love His company
Lots to parse there, and in his other comments for that matter.
posted by RolandOfEld at 7:20 AM on September 11, 2018 [8 favorites]
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posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:23 AM on September 11, 2018
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:23 AM on September 11, 2018
I am sorry to hear of Terry's demise. Fascinating project, truly unique. Mad props to him. I'll pour one out for him tonight.
There was some guy I spoke to once many years ago, I forget his name, he was trying to get his OS into the military for consideration and evaluation as a secure platform.. I think it was linux based tho. I remember thinking that some of the features he said were in the OS were just so "out there" that they couldn't possibly be incorporated into any sort of program without the use of magic or perhaps God. Either way, there was nothing *I* could do for him because I was not a decision maker... I wish I could remember his name or the name of his OS, I'm pretty sure it wasn't Mefi's own losethos (Terry) tho..
anyways I always wondered what happened to that guy. He reminded me of Terry anyhow, from what I've read. Super interesting, but inhabiting a modified, augmented, fundamentally different reality from my own.
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posted by some loser at 7:25 AM on September 11, 2018
Oh how sad.
The article from The Dalles newspaper is very good, here's a full text copy (CW: mental illness, suicide) that someone posted to Hacker News. It does an excellent job explaining the beauty and unusual nature of his work on TempleOS. Way more detailed than you'd expect from a local newspaper, particularly for someone from out of town.
It talks quite a bit about his mental illness and death. Apparently he had a violent side serious enough that local police departments passed on warnings to each other. Also this detail makes me terribly sad
I find myself thinking about once a year about Phil Agre, a technologist and writer who seems to have been lost to mental illness. After he disappeared in 2009 his Internet friends, including Metafilter, went looking for him. Police found him in 2010 and said he was "in good health and self sufficient" and wanted to be left alone. I can find nothing about him since. I hope he's OK.
posted by Nelson at 7:31 AM on September 11, 2018 [16 favorites]
The article from The Dalles newspaper is very good, here's a full text copy (CW: mental illness, suicide) that someone posted to Hacker News. It does an excellent job explaining the beauty and unusual nature of his work on TempleOS. Way more detailed than you'd expect from a local newspaper, particularly for someone from out of town.
It talks quite a bit about his mental illness and death. Apparently he had a violent side serious enough that local police departments passed on warnings to each other. Also this detail makes me terribly sad
He said Davis had posted hours and hours of videos over the years, but because he believed God’s 11th commandment was to not litter, he deleted a lot of his videos “littering” the internet just before his death.I've never been comfortable with how the Internet, myself included, lionized TempleOS. It's a remarkable technical achievement and beautiful. It's also clearly a symptom of untreated mental illness, a sickness that led to a difficult life for Terry and maybe his death. I wish he could have found treatment that worked for him.
I find myself thinking about once a year about Phil Agre, a technologist and writer who seems to have been lost to mental illness. After he disappeared in 2009 his Internet friends, including Metafilter, went looking for him. Police found him in 2010 and said he was "in good health and self sufficient" and wanted to be left alone. I can find nothing about him since. I hope he's OK.
posted by Nelson at 7:31 AM on September 11, 2018 [16 favorites]
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posted by Going To Maine at 7:33 AM on September 11, 2018
posted by Going To Maine at 7:33 AM on September 11, 2018
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posted by hap_hazard at 7:47 AM on September 11, 2018
posted by hap_hazard at 7:47 AM on September 11, 2018
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posted by the list of suspects is just you at 7:58 AM on September 11, 2018
posted by the list of suspects is just you at 7:58 AM on September 11, 2018
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posted by lazaruslong at 8:28 AM on September 11, 2018
posted by lazaruslong at 8:28 AM on September 11, 2018
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posted by OverlappingElvis at 8:42 AM on September 11, 2018
posted by OverlappingElvis at 8:42 AM on September 11, 2018
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posted by not_the_water at 8:54 AM on September 11, 2018
posted by not_the_water at 8:54 AM on September 11, 2018
I hope that his work becomes more broadly known as the masterpiece of outsider art that it is
I feel like "outsider art" is probably the best description of TempleOS yet it's also not very good - "outsider art" is characterized by a lack of attention to artisan skills. I think Terry really had a pretty good understanding of computer science, he simply had different goals. I feel bad for the suffering his mental illness must have caused him but at the same time he lived out his principles. It's sad he ended up homeless and that he seemed to have taken his own life. I'm glad he lived and worked on his vision and that I got to see it however indirectly.
posted by GuyZero at 9:36 AM on September 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
I feel like "outsider art" is probably the best description of TempleOS yet it's also not very good - "outsider art" is characterized by a lack of attention to artisan skills. I think Terry really had a pretty good understanding of computer science, he simply had different goals. I feel bad for the suffering his mental illness must have caused him but at the same time he lived out his principles. It's sad he ended up homeless and that he seemed to have taken his own life. I'm glad he lived and worked on his vision and that I got to see it however indirectly.
posted by GuyZero at 9:36 AM on September 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
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I've been waiting for this post, especially since I found it so depressing I couldn't make it. This whole story is depressing and indicative of many things, particularly about how society often treats people with mental illness.
Terry was no saint, mind, and had a lot of problems, especially how he treated his parents and the people in his life as evidenced on some live streams.
It's also weird to think that the only real differences between someone like Terry and people like Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs - or perhaps more apt - Richard Stallman may be just a few degrees of difference in how social they are, the privilege they were dealt and maybe just a few thousand neurons linked slightly differently.
Terry could have written something like NeXT or BeOS or Linux. He could have been Linus Torvalds.
May you find root and home, Terry.
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posted by loquacious at 10:30 AM on September 11, 2018 [17 favorites]
I've been waiting for this post, especially since I found it so depressing I couldn't make it. This whole story is depressing and indicative of many things, particularly about how society often treats people with mental illness.
Terry was no saint, mind, and had a lot of problems, especially how he treated his parents and the people in his life as evidenced on some live streams.
It's also weird to think that the only real differences between someone like Terry and people like Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs - or perhaps more apt - Richard Stallman may be just a few degrees of difference in how social they are, the privilege they were dealt and maybe just a few thousand neurons linked slightly differently.
Terry could have written something like NeXT or BeOS or Linux. He could have been Linus Torvalds.
May you find root and home, Terry.
..
posted by loquacious at 10:30 AM on September 11, 2018 [17 favorites]
I always felt bad for how Terry got caught up by channer trolls who sought to manipulate him through his mental illness. They caused him and his family a lot of strife. RIP Terry, sorry people did that to you.
posted by constantinescharity at 11:12 AM on September 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by constantinescharity at 11:12 AM on September 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
Outsider art doesn't mean there's not demonstrated skill, only that their works were made outside of the mainstream culture, and often coming from a lived experience outside of that culture. From that definition, TempleOS feels like a good example. I don't know that it's a perfect mapping of concept but I think it captures the idea.
posted by Typhoon Jim at 11:38 AM on September 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Typhoon Jim at 11:38 AM on September 11, 2018 [7 favorites]
this has got me real sad.
posted by nikaspark at 11:44 AM on September 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by nikaspark at 11:44 AM on September 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by Joe in Australia at 12:37 PM on September 11, 2018
posted by Joe in Australia at 12:37 PM on September 11, 2018
I am sad for Terry, and his friends and family, and a culture that that doesn't take care of our own. Here's hoping he finds his version of the superuser happily ever after.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 1:58 PM on September 11, 2018
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 1:58 PM on September 11, 2018
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I was just thinking of him this morning, in a kind of “at least we'll always have Terry & TempleOS” kind of a way.
posted by scruss at 2:41 PM on September 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
I was just thinking of him this morning, in a kind of “at least we'll always have Terry & TempleOS” kind of a way.
posted by scruss at 2:41 PM on September 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
The "previousliest" link in the OP includes participation from Terry: There was a period when he was responding to any discussions of LoseThos anywhere on the internet, and that included Metafilter.
It looks like his old website losethos.com is now SEO spam for shonajoy.com.au.
posted by cosmic.osmo at 3:34 PM on September 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
It looks like his old website losethos.com is now SEO spam for shonajoy.com.au.
posted by cosmic.osmo at 3:34 PM on September 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by JoeXIII007 at 3:39 PM on September 11, 2018
posted by JoeXIII007 at 3:39 PM on September 11, 2018
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posted by chinesefood at 3:49 PM on September 11, 2018
posted by chinesefood at 3:49 PM on September 11, 2018
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posted by But tomorrow is another day... at 5:38 PM on September 11, 2018
posted by But tomorrow is another day... at 5:38 PM on September 11, 2018
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There's been quite a bit of discussion of TempleOS at lobste.rs as well, for background.
posted by nickzoic at 5:58 PM on September 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
There's been quite a bit of discussion of TempleOS at lobste.rs as well, for background.
posted by nickzoic at 5:58 PM on September 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Wow that lobsters link to someone porting programs to TempleOS is amazing. I had no idea that Davis had written his own JIT compiled language to go with his operating system.
posted by Nelson at 7:07 PM on September 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Nelson at 7:07 PM on September 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
No, Terry Davis was not a "noted racist". There are people who go around giving speeches, building web sites, and organizing demonstrations to promote racism - those people
are the noted racists. As far as I know, Terry Davis had no connection to that world, and those people do not claim Davis as an ally. Davis sometimes made racist remarks. I am not an expert on schizophrenia but I expect there is a medical explanation for those, they were like the other self-defeating behaviors he was apparently unable to control. Davis' accomplishment, for which he is deservedly noted, was to create TempleOS. As far as I know, there is no racist content in it.
posted by JonJacky at 9:31 PM on September 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
are the noted racists. As far as I know, Terry Davis had no connection to that world, and those people do not claim Davis as an ally. Davis sometimes made racist remarks. I am not an expert on schizophrenia but I expect there is a medical explanation for those, they were like the other self-defeating behaviors he was apparently unable to control. Davis' accomplishment, for which he is deservedly noted, was to create TempleOS. As far as I know, there is no racist content in it.
posted by JonJacky at 9:31 PM on September 12, 2018 [7 favorites]
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He had a rough life and wasn't easy for anybody to get along with, which must have exacerbated his own problems. It's sad to hear he's passed.
posted by ardgedee at 5:46 AM on September 11, 2018 [7 favorites]