Editing Maxwell's demon (section)

== As metaphor ==
[[Daemon (computing)|Daemons in computing]], generally processes that run on servers to respond to users, are named for Maxwell's demon.<ref name="OjRq9">{{Cite web|url=http://www.takeourword.com/TOW146/page4.html|author=Fernando J. Corbató|title=Take Our Word for It|date=2002-01-23|access-date=2006-08-20|author-link=Fernando J. Corbató}}</ref>

Historian [[Henry Brooks Adams]], in his manuscript ''[[The Rule of Phase Applied to History]]'', attempted to use Maxwell's demon as a historical [[metaphor]], though he misunderstood and misapplied the original principle.<ref name="lKeHq">[[#Cater|Cater (1947)]], pp. 640–647; see also Daub (1970), reprinted in [[#Leff Rex 90|Leff & Rex (1990)]], pp. 37–51.</ref> Adams interpreted [[history]] as a process moving towards "equilibrium", but he saw [[militarism|militaristic]] nations (he felt [[Germany]] pre-eminent in this class) as tending to reverse this process, a Maxwell's demon of history. Adams made many attempts to respond to the criticism of his formulation from his scientific colleagues, but the work remained incomplete at his death in 1918 and was published posthumously.<ref name="UgW96">[[#Adams|Adams (1919)]], p. 267.</ref>