TechGnosis : Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information

Rating:
Summary: Out of Touch but Not Out to Lunch
Review: A unique coign of vantage is evident in Techgnosis: Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the Age of Information. A certain cybernetic quintessence pervades its pages, which is sure to inspire you to plug into a world that is, according to the author, more than it seems, at least alchemically speaking. Erik Davis's command of historical, political, spiritual and the necessary pop factuals keeps the read alive throughout and his sophisticated interface mix serves to keep the fluidium coursing through the fiber optic veins of the planet in an enlivening way. Using his scholarly skills that rarely encumber the flow, the author navigates the realm of the `electromagnetic imaginary', offering us examples of how humanity has dealt with its own doppleganger in the form of an ever mutating technology that seems more and more to take on a life of its own.. Suggesting that `magic is technology's unconscious' Davis spells out how the World Wide Whammy is playing out in social and political trends, politically, environmentally and perhaps more importantly: spiritually. It is getting harder and harder to escape technology's ever deepening influence, even for the most die hard of Luddites. It is literally reaching into the DNA of our being and tweaking things in a covert nano fashion. So the question of the day: Is it possible to have a genuinely spiritual technology which would reconcile the rift between flesh and machine? The notion of such an unlikely fusion has certainly been hyped up in recent years and has lead to some rather hard drive Icarus crashes of various sorts: Heaven's Gate being one of them and maybe electronic voting machines to come. But there is a gnostic glimmer of transcendental hope that may resist an immanent defragmentation: through the possible uploading into a digitally sustained samadhi at the click of the mouse. But the crux question remains: Will technology, even a fully spiritualized one, enable us to break free of the Archons, those planetary rulers the original Gnostics of Nag Hammadi fame so despised-or will it only be used by these heavies for further manipulation and control via the magical unconscious of our PCs, ATMs , Karaoke Machines and automated check out lanes at the supermarket? The latter seems to be the case-at least from the Gnostic perspective Davis provides us. I'd like to think that there are some heretical pockets left in the machine in which to hide in and wage war from -much like the desert fathers of yore once did.

On the one hand, I was impressed with Davis's cool articulations and the hypnotic, mercurial glibness that pervades Techgnosis. However it made me want to know more and more about the actual Erik and whether or not he smoked cigars and liked chocolate pies or to watch randy horses rolling around in the mud. The kind of cool detachment describec above can be very dangerous and seems to be symptomatic of those commenting on media, its trends and perversions (such as Mark Dery and Douglas Rushkoff). So more personal introjections to bring all the Neo-Platonic refinement into perspective and preserve our humble humanism. . We need to break free of the spell of technology and I'm not so sure Erik is helping us out in that direction even as intriguing as the book is.. I mean how are we supposed to respond to lines like: "And so we drown, believing that to drown is to surf." ?

Jaye Beldo: [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Out of Touch but Not Out to Lunch
Review: A unique coign of vantage is evident in Techgnosis: Myth, Magic and Mysticism in the Age of Information. A certain cybernetic quintessence pervades its pages, which is sure to inspire you to plug into a world that is, according to the author, more than it seems, at least alchemically speaking. Erik Davis's command of historical, political, spiritual and the necessary pop factuals keeps the read alive throughout and his sophisticated interface mix serves to keep the fluidium coursing through the fiber optic veins of the planet in an enlivening way. Using his scholarly skills that rarely encumber the flow, the author navigates the realm of the 'electromagnetic imaginary', offering us examples of how humanity has dealt with its own doppleganger in the form of an ever mutating technology that seems more and more to take on a life of its own.. Suggesting that 'magic is technology's unconscious' Davis spells out how the World Wide Whammy is playing out in social and political trends, politically, environmentally and perhaps more importantly: spiritually. It is getting harder and harder to escape technology's ever deepening influence, even for the most die hard of Luddites. It is literally reaching into the DNA of our being and tweaking things in a covert nano fashion. So the question of the day: Is it possible to have a genuinely spiritual technology which would reconcile the rift between flesh and machine? The notion of such an unlikely fusion has certainly been hyped up in recent years and has lead to some rather hard drive Icarus crashes of various sorts: Heaven's Gate being one of them and maybe electronic voting machines to come. But there is a gnostic glimmer of transcendental hope that may resist an immanent defragmentation: through the possible uploading into a digitally sustained samadhi at the click of the mouse. But the crux question remains: Will technology, even a fully spiritualized one, enable us to break free of the Archons, those planetary rulers the original Gnostics of Nag Hammadi fame so despised-or will it only be used by these heavies for further manipulation and control via the magical unconscious of our PCs, ATMs , Karaoke Machines and automated check out lanes at the supermarket? The latter seems to be the case-at least from the Gnostic perspective Davis provides us. I'd like to think that there are some heretical pockets left in the machine in which to hide in and wage war from -much like the desert fathers of yore once did.

On the one hand, I was impressed with Davis's cool articulations and the hypnotic, mercurial glibness that pervades Techgnosis. However it made me want to know more and more about the actual Erik and whether or not he smoked cigars and liked chocolate pies or to watch randy horses rolling around in the mud. The kind of cool detachment describec above can be very dangerous and seems to be symptomatic of those commenting on media, its trends and perversions (such as Mark Dery and Douglas Rushkoff). So more personal introjections to bring all the Neo-Platonic refinement into perspective and preserve our humble humanism. . We need to break free of the spell of technology and I'm not so sure Erik is helping us out in that direction even as intriguing as the book is.. I mean how are we supposed to respond to lines like: "And so we drown, believing that to drown is to surf." ?

Jaye Beldo: [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: a disturbing, familiar, and comforting lesson
Review: Call Erik Davis's piece a rant, a stretch, a sermon, a novelty or a misinformed text, you sorely miss the beauty, creativity and inspiration of this referential, imaginative book. It has solid value in its reflection on the voids prolific in our contemporary, secular metaphysics. It is a consolation.

Davis has done a delightful thing by surfing the reader through philosophical and technological sources from the Pre-Socratics to the Temple ov Psychic Youth to provide him with food for thought about humanity in the information age, something seemingly lacking in today's world. Along the way, Davis refers to multifarious theories, cites and works only to offer the reader possible paths of reflection along which Davis himself may have wandered, drawing connections about human nature and existence as we tumble along in space and time.

I, for one, marked the book up with innumerable postile, intending to keep it as a reference for my personal research and writing. I am happy there are finally others out there, like Erik Davis, who see connections like I do in such superficially diverse things as the danger of capitalism and Democritus, string theory and Cologne minimal techno music, Bill Gates and bull fighting, or whatever one chooses to use as sources and allegory for their thoughts and approach to life.

I applaud Davis for his subliminal theme, behind all the book's surface topics, of getting your hands dirty and grappling with the big questions like, given the development of information and technology, have we humans really improved humanity, compassion, and empathy to other beings beyond their gnostic roots, or are we to continually wallow in stock market mania, virus paranoia, conspiracy theory, alien signals, psychic faiths and unsatisfied cravings for cult leaders? I await Erik Davis's next book eagerly for his answers.

Rating:
Summary: A magical investiagion of 3000 years of being and technology
Review: Davis sets his sights high - to explain the philosophical and mystical history of the West against the development of our technologies. While the argument is often made that technologies are value-neutral, Davies proves - conclusively - that our technological fancies rise from our intrinsic spiritual natures (explicit or implicit), even as every new scientific discovery equally spawns a new era of spiritual "research". From the Emerald Tablets of Hermes Trismegistos to the noospheric prognostications of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin - who may have predicted the Internet a half century before it became a physical reality - Davies shows that being and doing, in the guise of spirituality and techology, are the twinned halves of the cultural DNA within which we operate.

Delightfully, this book is not just a dry retelling of history; Davis has a point of view, which is neither fancifully utopian or pessimistically Orwellian, but instead focuses on the reality of t! he isomorphism between what we believe about the world around us and what we believe about the life within us.

This book isn't just a good read, it's a necessary read, a clever antidote to all of the business-as-usual explanations of the age of information, and contextualizes our era against the last 3,000 years of history of the West. Anyone interested in the history of science, the history of religion, and the history and ethics of technology should read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful fusion of technology and the religious imagination
Review: Erik Davis has long been a pioneer of the borderline between religious and spiritual imaginative systems and technological inventions. In Techgnosis he focuses on information technologies through the ages and shows us how various infomrations systems have become powerful loci for religious and spiritual dreams. Beginning with the word itself Davis brilliantly explores the magical, mystical, spiritual appeal of symbols and codes, and the various technologies invented for transmitting them. Revealing the hidden hermetic underbelly of the Western technological enterprise, Davis offers us a thoughtful and insightful look at how electricity and silicon have become powerful loci for new forms of mysticism. Engaging, witty, and always highly opinionated, Davis is a rare and welcome voice in the new technology scene. Techgnosis will inform, enchant, amuse, and at times probably annoy you - but it will never bore you!

Rating:
Summary: Gnostic, yet not: he knows his field, but does he play it?
Review: Erik Davis produces a wonderful panorama of spiritual and technological history. At turns this book is scary - as when discussing the ability of the governement to "See" us all the time, or the fundamentalist readings of the Book of Revelations - and then the book becomes jubilant - as when describing the educational benefits of the internet.

Davis also seems to draw a fine line between dismissing his subjects' religious memes and discussing them. I can sense some respect for the various religions but I also wonder about the easy way in which he discusses modern gnosticisms or neopagansims. While I realize that many postmodern sorts dismiss all religion off hand, I wonder if it would be possible to produce a postmodern discussion that didn't didn't seem to dismiss it a priori.

Having said that, I found this book to be a very easy and thought-provoking read. Eric has a wonderful style which assumes a lot of knowledge on the part of the reader: subtle knowledge of various texts and the ability to "click and link" to other fields such as alchemy, christian history and American culture. Despite a lot of experience in the "Western Magical Tradition" I can not tell you if Davis is, himself, a gnostic or not. Given the at-once public acclaim and religious disdain of many of the "new religions" perhaps Davis is wise is leave his own views well hidden.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning Debut Unveils Hermetic Underside To Cyberculture
Review: Erik Davis' fine writing has graced the pages of The Nation, Village Voice, Lingua Franca, and 21.C for many years. 'Techgnosis' grew out of an essay that he wrote for the seminal cyber-crit anthology 'Flame Wars', edited by Mark Dery.

Unlike other authors, Davis has an incredibly open mind and lets the disenfranchised speak for themselves. There are some stunning sections on Scientology, the Gurdjieff Work, John Dee, the Extropians, and the interface between early 1980s role-playing games like Gary Gygax's 'Advanced Dungeons and Dragons' and contemporary VR technology. Davis examines many of the integral examples of spirituality featured across many cyber-crit books, but his elegant writing and common sense inject a powerful dynamic into this work not often found elsewhere. He doesn't have the same hysterical tone often found in anti-cult literature for example, but is also balanced and can be subtly critical (confused yet?).

There are some strange omissions, notably an excellent piece Davis wrote for 21.C on the Mormons that appears to have been dropped by the publishers at last minute. Despite this, 'Techgnosis' is a strong debut that clearly conveys how the spiritual has transmutated into the technological at the end of the millennium. Fully referenced, Davis' book is a clear indication of the maturation of a defining authorial voice.

Rating:
Summary: No There There
Review: Erik Davis's often creative connections between magic and technology suffer from his style--a hip, let me explain it to you in terms you can understand narrative that casts every age as a pale anticipation of our own. The bloom is off the information age, and while the Internet is here to stay, Davis's way of talking about it isn't. I'd give this book an 'A' for enthusiasm from a talented undergrad. But as a serious analysis of the bridge between myth and machines, the story collapses under its own pretense of being 'now'. Search out the sources he footnotes and take the rest as an artefact of the dot-com boom.

Rating:
Summary: A surprising read
Review: I had initially thought this book would a rah-rah about how great US West Coast liberalism is, .com utopian dreams and all thing American. Instead I found a very well researched, non-biased piece of work that covers a lot of information in a very readable format.

Starting with a history of technology and how it interacted with religion, through major technological discoveries where the inventors had to carefully toe the Catholic Church line, to out and out heretics.

The author does not push one view point over another, and gives a fairly free analysis of most counter culture, sub-culture, major religious and alternative groups seeking one of a number of different end results, from those wanting to leave the planet behind through mind uploading to pagan rituals or role playing/adventure games.

The Gnostic stream is woven through the text, and fully explained with relevant references. The writings of Philip K. Dick, Scientology and the Heavens Gate cult all get a good mention.

All in all, a good read. Not your usual West Coast utopian rubbish.

Rating:
Summary: Looking to the future with roots in the past
Review: I was not expecting a classical Gnostic text when I picked this book up, perhaps that's why I'm not as dissapointed as others who have read it. I was looking for a work in the Gnostic tradition (not Tradition). Davis makes some compelling connections between the old and new seekers after Truth. References cited in this book were also good, and steered me toward other interesting works.