@RUTGERS.ARPA:hester@uci-icse (03/05/85)
From: Jim Hester <hester@uci-icse> I wasn't implying that the name was not used in some SF work, just suggesting how the author probably (no pun intended) came up with it. Your belief that it was a personificatin of Murphey's Law does not refute (in my opinion, it actually supports) this suggestion. If the imp is a personification of Murphey's law, then it seems likely that the author of the story used the term 'imp' in reference to Maxwell's Demon, since this demon IS the personification of Murphey's Law! It is the malicious sentient being on which we lay the blame for an otherwise impersonal law by saying that the demon alters probability in order to bring about possible although improbable misfortunes or calamities. The correspondence between names and occupatins is nearly perfect; the only question is whether it was intentional. In addition to being a fun and convenient scapegoat, the demon is a literary device for saying things (particularly bad ones in the case of the demon) do not happen by accident in the universe. I adhere to this philosophy at least as far as puns and allegories in literature go. I assume that an SF author is literate enough to be aware of the demon, and to use the term 'imp' based on that. S/he may have chosen the name out of the blue, but to assume that is to make a negative assumption about the author's writing abilities. I am hesitant to make such an assumption without overwhelming evidence of incompetance. Sorry I couldn't supply the requested pointer, though. Jim