@RUTGERS.ARPA:JAROCHA-ERNST@RU-BLUE.ARPA (03/07/85)
From: Chris Jarocha-Ernst <JAROCHA-ERNST@RU-BLUE.ARPA> I don't know where you get the impression that the Imp of the Perverse is at all related to Murphy's Law. In Poe's short story (not an essay, as earlier reported), the Imp is merely a name given to certain self-destructive tendencies. Poe gives an example of someone on the edge of a precipice, looking down and wondering what it would feel like to jump. Of course, it would be fatal... But what would it *feel* like? As you dwell more heavily on a self-destructive option, Poe says, the "Imp" tries to make that option, not more attractive, but more likely. The story itself involves someone who has committed The Perfect Crime... but (of course) no one knows about it, so no one knows how clever he is. To tell would surely lead to prison. But, *Damn*, it was a clever stunt. Get the idea? Knowing that this self-destructive tendency is caused by the "Imp" doesn't help; the tendency remains. I assume that's what the button's creator meant. Poe's story has nothing to do with Maxwell's Demon. In fact, I can't see what Murphy's Law has to do with Maxwell's Demon. Chris -------