Hence, it is difficult to describe the new paradigm in the language of the old one. The word demo is an abbreviation of demonstration , and that word is etymologically connected to the word monster , which, in turn, is connected to the word warning . Although we now know that the world isn't flat, that concept was impossible for the ancients to understand. They had no language to adequately describe what was yet to be discovered. Moving into a new paradigm is a bit like falling off the edge of the map , there's just no way of explaining what has happened to you in the terms of your previous view of the world.
Demos are extremely high-pressure events because they either succeed or fail.
So, essentially, the demo was painting the screen , or hand waving as it is known in demo parlance. Vaporware is announcing products that don't exist and never will. What we might call effective marketing. What Jobs captured on stage was the essence of a new paradigm, the experience of traveling in a new world. So a demo is a mythic or representational form of truth that carries people into your vision.