koan /koh'an/ n.
A Zen teaching riddle. Classically,
koans are attractive paradoxes to be meditated on; their purpose is
to help one to enlightenment by temporarily jamming normal
cognitive processing so that something more interesting can happen
(this practice is associated with Rinzei Zen Buddhism). Hackers are
very fond of the koan form and compose their own koans for
humororous and/or enlightening effect. See Some AI Koans,
has the X nature, hacker humor.
A Zen teaching riddle. Classically,
koans are attractive paradoxes to be meditated on; their purpose is
to help one to enlightenment by temporarily jamming normal
cognitive processing so that something more interesting can happen
(this practice is associated with Rinzei Zen Buddhism). Hackers are
very fond of the koan form and compose their own koans for
humororous and/or enlightening effect. See Some AI Koans,
has the X nature, hacker humor.
Related:
- hacker humor
A distinctive style of shared
intellectual humor found among hackers,
having the following marked characteristics: 1... - has the X nature: [seems to derive from Zen Buddhist koans of the
form "Does an X have the Buddha-nature?"] adj.
Common hacker construction for `is an X', used for... - has the X nature
[seems to derive from Zen Buddhist koans
of the form "Does an X have the Buddha-nature?"] adj.
Common hacker construction for `is an X', used for... - mu /moo/
The correct answer to the classic trick question
"Have you stopped beating your wife yet?".
Assuming that you have no wife or you have never... - AI koans: /A-I koh'anz/ pl.n. A series of pastiches of Zen
teaching riddles created by Danny Hillis at the MIT AI Lab around
various major figures of the Lab's culture (several are included
under "{A Selection of AI Koans}" in {Appendix
A}).
See also {ha ha only serious}, {mu}, and {{Humor, ... - mu: /moo/ The correct answer to the classic trick question
"Have you stopped beating your wife yet?".
Assuming that you have no wife or you have never... - AI koans /A-I koh'anz/ pl.n.
A series of pastiches of Zen teaching riddles created... - ha ha only serious: [from SF fandom, orig. as mutation of HHOK,
`Ha Ha Only Kidding'] A phrase (often seen abbreviated... - casting the runes: n. What a {guru} does when you ask him or
her to run a particular program and type at it because it never
works for anyone else;
esp. used when nobody can ever see what the guru...
