eris

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

/e'ris/ The Greek goddess of Chaos, Discord, Confusion, and Things You Know Not Of; her name was latinised to Discordia and she was worshiped by that name in Rome. Not a very friendly deity in the Classical original, she was reinvented as a more benign personification of creative anarchy starting in 1959 by the adherents of Discordianism and has since been a semi-serious subject of veneration in several "fringe" cultures, including hackerdom.

See Church of the SubGenius. [Jargon File]

(1994-12-08)

The Jargon File

The Greek goddess of Chaos, Discord, Confusion, and Things You Know Not Of; her name was latinized to Discordia and she was worshiped by that name in Rome. Not a very friendly deity in the Classical original, she was reinvented as a more benign personification of creative anarchy starting in 1959 by the adherents of Discordianism and has since been a semi-serious subject of veneration in several ‘fringe’ cultures, including hackerdom. See Discordianism, Church of the SubGenius.