Home Techgnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information by Erik Davis; Foreword by Eugene Thacker (ISBN: 9781583949306)

Stock photo: cover may vary

Techgnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information Paperback - 2015

Name: TechGnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information
Price: 9.01 GBP
Availability: InStock
Author: Davis, Erik
ISBN: 9781583949306

by Erik Davis; Foreword by Eugene Thacker

Add to wish list

Browse more copies for sale ↓

Reader reviews for Techgnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information

Write a review for this book

Important Terms and Guidelines

Please focus on the book’s content and context. Also, add any personal comments as to how you enjoyed the book. Substantiate your likes and dislikes. You may make comparisons to other books.
Reviews must be at least 140 characters in length.
Please do not reveal critical plot elements.
This is not a help line. Contact customer support if you need help.

Your review must not include:

Obscenities, discriminatory language, or other insulting language not suitable for public domain
Advertisements, “spam” content, or references to other products, offers or websites.
Email addresses, URLs, phone numbers, physical addresses or other contact information.
Overly critical comments about other reviews or reviewers
Time-sensitive material (i.e. promotional tours, seminars, lectures, etc.)
Availability, price, or alternative ordering/shipping information

From the publisher

TechGnosis is a cult classic of media studies that straddles the line between academic discourse and popular culture; it appeals to both those secular and spiritual, to fans of cyberpunk and hacker literature and culture as much as new-thought adherents and spiritual seekers

How does our fascination with technology intersect with the religious imagination? In TechGnosis--a cult classic now updated and reissued with a new afterword--Erik Davis argues that while the realms of the digital and the spiritual may seem worlds apart, esoteric and religious impulses have in fact always permeated (and sometimes inspired) technological communication.

Davis uncovers startling connections between such seemingly disparate topics as electricity and alchemy; online roleplaying games and religious and occult practices; virtual reality and gnostic mythology; programming languages and Kabbalah. The final chapters address the apocalyptic dreams that haunt technology, providing vital historical context as well as new ways to think about a future defined by the mutant intermingling of mind and machine, nightmare and fantasy.

From the jacket flap

Exploring the mystical impulses behind our obsession with information technology, TechGnosis presents a fascinating and passionately original perspective on technoculture.
Today we often assume that the triumph of technological rationality has condemned the spiritual imagination to the trash heap of history. But as Erik Davis explains, religious impulses and magical dreams permeate the history of technology. Ranging from the printing press to the telegraph, from radio to the Internet, David peels away the utilitarian shell of technology to reveal the mystical and millennialist fervor that attends each new communications breakthrough. As he unveils the hidden history of techno-mysticism, Davis shows how the religious imagination continues to feed the utopian dreams, apocalyptic visions, and alien obsessions that populate today's technological unconscious.
In these pages, Davis offers a lucid, playful, and astonishingly erudite journey through our hyper-mediated environment. Anyone grappling with the morphing boundaries and terminal speed of our present moment will want to take the ride.

Details

Title Techgnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information
Author Erik Davis; Foreword by Eugene Thacker
Binding Paperback
Edition Paperback
Pages 456
Volumes 1
Language ENG
Publisher North Atlantic Books, Berkeley
Publication date 2015-03-17
Features Bibliography, Index
ISBN 9781583949306 / 1583949305
Weight 1.55 lbs (0.70 kg)
Dimensions 8.9 x 6 x 1.2 in (22.61 x 15.24 x 3.05 cm)
Themes
- Aspects (Academic): Science/Technology Aspects
- Topical: New Age
Category Technology & Industrial Arts
Library of Congress subjects Technological innovations - Social aspects, Information technology - Social aspects
Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2014035166
Dewey Decimal Code 303.483

About the author

ERIK DAVIS is a scholar, journalist, and public speaker best known for his cultural analysis and creative explorations of esoteric mysticism. Davis has written about music, art, film, pop culture, and technology for Spin, Details, Rolling Stone, and Wired magazines. He is the author of Led Zeppelin IV (2005), The Visionary State: A Journey Through California's Spiritual Landscape (2006), and Nomad Codes: Adventures in Modern Esoterica (2010), and co-edited The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick (2011). Davis has appeared in a number of documentaries about technology and countercultural topics, including DMT: The Spirit Molecule, Electronic Awakening, and The Source. Along with Maja D'Aoust, he hosts a weekly podcast devoted to the "cultures of consciousness" called Expanding Mind, which is part of the Progressive Radio Network.