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In an article I see this phrase "Faustian bargain". Both I and my teacher were unable to translate or understand it. Can you help me and explain this phrase?

Context:

The reason for linking all the modules together in a single address space, with no protection between the modules, is that designers have made a Faustian bargain: better performance at the cost of more system crashes. We will quantitatively examine the price of this trade-off below.

This comes from the first page of this work: http://docs.huihoo.com/minix/reliable-os.pdf or http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:_sabEZ3IFvsJ:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5 (preloaded as google html view)

apaderno
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osgx
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  • That is surpising. Do you think because your teacher did not know Faustian Bargain and about Faust, or did not know about the system design subject matter? – lex Oct 19 '12 at 16:45
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    Or that neither of you could Google "Faustian bargain" which gives you a page of answers. – TripeHound Jun 06 '18 at 10:45
  • Simply put: A deal where one abandons their moral and/or spiritual values in exchange for money, power, knowledge or some other benefit. In other words, "a deal with the devil". – Michael Benjamin Jan 08 '19 at 15:35

2 Answers2

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'Faust' is the main character in German legend. From Wikipedia:

Faust or Faustus (Latin for "auspicious" or "lucky") is the protagonist of a classic German legend. Though a highly successful scholar, he is unsatisfied, and makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures.

Making a 'Faustian bargain' can be interpreted as making a deal with the devil - it may seem like a good deal, but there is always a catch, and that catch is usually very, very bad.

Here is a wikipedia article discussing 'Deals with the Devil', which they also term as a 'Faustian bargain':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deal_with_the_devil

morganpdx
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    "Making a 'Faustian bargain' can be interpreted as making a deal with the devil - it may seem like a good deal, but there is always a catch, and that catch is usually very, very bad." While every fictional version of Faust (Brendon Frasier was in a mediocre filming of it about 10 years back; Elizabeth Hurley was a great Mephistopheles though) was about how the deal turned out badly, but when people use the phrase in real life, they are usually emphasizing the distasteful nature of the counter party and the lopsided terms, not any hidden catches or tricks. – Michael Lorton Feb 07 '11 at 22:57
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    @Malvolio: I'm not sure… I have seen many uses of "Faustian bargain" where there is no distasteful Mephistopheles. In the example quoted ("a Faustian bargain: better performance at the cost of more system crashes"), it seems to me they're not talking of system crashes as the devil but as costs. No? – ShreevatsaR Feb 08 '11 at 09:11
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    @ShreevatsaR -- I think that's just a misuse. Faust without Mephistopheles? What fun would that be? – Michael Lorton Feb 08 '11 at 21:00
  • @Malvolio - I loved that flick. There was a wonderful little scene in a jail cell that acts as the central point of the entire movie. – T.E.D. Jul 27 '11 at 13:48
  • @T.E.D. -- I think it's interesting that many popular source (books and movie) get right what most theologians get wrong: if you believe in an omnipotent god, you cannot believe in an autonomous devil. The devil has to be part of God's plan for forcing men to choose between good and evil. See the underrated movie Devil for more details. (See the panned but still overrated movie Legion for fewer details.) – Michael Lorton Jul 27 '11 at 14:44
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    I disagree with @Malvolio in that the emphasis is usually on the idea that you're making a short-term, "sexy" gain, at the cost of a long-term loss. The loss is so large that only extreme greed (or other character flaw) would tempt you to make the deal. This is the sense in which the OP's quote is made: when the system runs, it runs fast, but it crashes a lot which interrupts the program and loses the progress you had made. – Wayne Mar 14 '14 at 20:05
  • Yeah, while I think we can all agree that Mephistopheles is, objectively speaking, quite fun, I disagree with @Malvolio on the assertion that the focus is on the second party. Wouldn't the phrase be "Mephistophelian Bargain"? A "Faustian Bargain" is a criticism primarily of the metaphorical "Faust" in the scenario; to say that someone has made such a bargain is to say that the individual is someone who is some combination of greedy, lazy, shortsighted, and, frankly, dumb, to agree to the terms of a transparent deal that is not just lopsided, but that can realistically be called a total loss. – Cmillz Mar 15 '14 at 02:03
  • To me, the term has always meant big short term gains at a disproportionately large long term expense ;D – morganpdx Jul 08 '14 at 19:30
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Making a deal with the devil, the price is most often your soul. Beware of it. In an ordinary sense, it entails undertaking a difficult task to the detriment of other, perhaps more important things.

Edidiong Ekefre
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    Although a terrible question (because Googling "Faustian bargain" tells you the answer) your answer adds nothing that the existing one contains. – TripeHound Jun 06 '18 at 10:45
  • @TripeHound, did google tell the same in 2011 for non-native speakers of english? For example, wiktinoary has this only from 2012 https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Faustian_bargain&action=history – osgx Jun 06 '18 at 11:32
  • @osgx I didn't check then (:-)), but Dictionary.com's entry is copyrighted 2005 and the Wikipedia page on Faust goes back to at least 2002. I find it hard to believe that some source wouldn't have given the meaning in 2011. – TripeHound Jun 06 '18 at 11:47
  • Two comments: (1) "Faust" is also German for "fist, clenched hand"--which may be of significance. "Mephistopheles" (2) "Mephistopheles" was really what we might call a "stinker". It's not a coincidence that the scientific name of the skunk is Mephitis mephitis. – tautophile Jun 06 '18 at 16:10