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

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.

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.