The iconic gremlins from the 1984 movie have evolved from mythical pests that plagued pilots during wartime, to modern-day tech quirks and glitches. Scholars suggest that the origin of the term “gremlin” can be traced back to Royal Naval Air Force slang in the 1920s. During World War II, gremlins gained celebrity status as creatures known to cause mechanical failures. The folklore around gremlins served as a coping mechanism for stressed pilots and was later adapted into pop culture, exemplified by the success of the movie. Gremlins have inspired a range of computer entities, from daemons to worms, reflecting our ongoing efforts to humanize and understand the complex interactions between humans and machines.
https://daily.jstor.org/ghosts-in-the-machine/