Terry A. Davis: The Genius of a Schizophrenic Programmer

    Terry A. Davis was a software programmer, revered as a genius in the programming community for his solo creation of the operating system known as TempleOS. Davis's story presents a uniquely tragic yet novel insight into the mind of a man who was able to create one of the most novel and creative computer programs in history, all while dealing with the unrelenting symptoms of severe schizophrenia.  

    Davis worked as a software engineer for Ticketmaster before having a psychotic break that would change the course of his life and work forever. After being a staunch atheist most of his life, Davis experienced a Schizophrenic Episode after becoming increasingly paranoid, in which he began believing that God was talking to him through his car radio, telling him to drive south to Texas, where he dismantled his car in hopes of finding a tracking device. After the incident, he was found by local police and admitted into a psych ward in Arizona with the diagnoses of Schizophrenia and Bipolar disorder. 

    Luckily, his parents were able to care for him after his stint in the psych ward, fearing he might pose harm to himself or others. Now free from the time constraints of work, the programmer began creating what he believed God had revealed to him was his purpose in life: a program that allowed him to communicate directly with God. Davis worked tirelessly for 10 years on the project. Starting from scratch, he created his own computer program, coding language, and a complex universe of programs designed to allow users to experience direct contact with a higher power. To the average person, it may be difficult to understand how impressive and unheard of creating something like this is. To understand this feat, imagine creating a car from scratch. Not buying all the pieces and assembling the vehicle (which would be impressive in itself), but creating each component of the car individually, inventing new tools to work on the car, and then constructing it in a way and for a purpose no one had ever thought of. The operating system itself is akin to popular operating systems like Microsoft or Windows, which took years and a team of hundreds to invent. The "tool" he invented to create his programs was a coding language called "Holy C" a derivation of the traditional software called "C", which made his coding virtually unintelligible to most in the field of programming. 

    His creation, TempleOS, is a biblical-themed operating system which Davis believed was the "third temple" of the bible that God willed him to create during his schizophrenic delusions. The system included programs like a shooter game called "God's Revenge", a religious oracle that generated bible verses, and a flight simulator named "After Egypt" which served as a biblical allegory. These biblical references reminded me of musician Nick Cave's book "Faith, Hope, and Carnage," in which he discusses a particular infatuation he has with art that incorporates biblical imagery and allegory. He sees this art as not only interesting in itself but uniquely powerful for its ability to serve and honor a divine purpose above the physical world. 

In the study of creative psychology, there is a lot of discussion on how neurodivergence and mental illness can lead to extremely unique creative processes and products. Although Davis described schizophrenia in a YouTube video as "an illness of no hidden rewards," and no one would doubt the struggles associated with this type of mental illness, TempleOS is undoubtedly a testament to the ability for divergent thinking related to neurodivergence. Divergent thinking, where a creative comes up with an unconventional process or answer to a problem in their work, is particularly important to Davis's story.  

     His neurodivergence was not a minor trait, but instead what allowed him to interact with unique problems (such as how to create a program that will enable him to speak directly to God) and devise entirely new solutions (by creating an entire technological universe from scratch). The hallucinations and delusions that severed his connection with reality and the belief that God was dictating technical specifications like a 640x480 resolution and a 16-color display(which Davis believed established his covenant with God) were clearly not obstacles to his work. Instead, the "divine revelations" were as real as the code he wrote, directly fueling a decade of dedicated work and a creative product that was unheard of. This aligns with the long-documented and complex link between schizophrenia and creative output, where novel cognitive processes can often allow creatives to implement associations between their radically different reality and their work. It is consistent with psychological research that Davis's work, like that of many creatives with schizophrenia, can be difficult for others to understand and interact with in a meaningful way. Davis's genius was unquestionable, but the mental illness that, in many ways, moved him to create made his work so divergent from the scope of traditional technology that it had little use to anyone but himself. Nonetheless, the tragic and beautiful story of Terry A. Davis will live on in the memories of those who recognized his unique genius. 

Sources:

Alden, Winston. "TempleOS and the Strange, Sad Case of Terry A. Davis." Steemit, 12 Sept. 2017, steemit.com/computers/@winstonalden/schizophrenia-and-genius-templeos-and-the-strange-sad-case-of-terry-a-davis.