Technology as Magic
Technology as Magic

Author: Richard Stivers

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2001-08-01

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780826413673

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What gives the mass media, particularly advertising and television, their extraordinary power over our lives, so that even the most jaded and sophisticated among us are troubled and fascinated by their allure? The secret, according to Richard Stivers, in this brilliant new book, lies in the curious relationship between technology and magic. Stivers argues the two are now related to one another in such a way that each has taken on important characteristics of the other. His contention is that our expectations for technology have become magical to the point that they have generated a multitude of imitation technologies that function as magical practices. These imitation technologies flourish in the fields of psychology, management administration, and the mass media, and their paramount purpose in human adjustment and control. Advertising and television programs, in particular, contain the key magical rituals of our civilization.In a fascinating analysis of television programming, Stivers shows how various genres--news, sports, game shows, soap operas, sitcoms, etc.--have their distinct mythological symbols. Through dramatized information, they symbolically connect consumer goods and services to desired outcomes--the utopian goals of success, happiness, and health--thus enveloping technology, both real and imitation, in a magical cocoon.

Trance: from Magic to Technology
Trance: from Magic to Technology

Author: Dennis R. Wier

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2006-05-01

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 1888428392

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This book describes a new model for trance as well as practical techniques to analyse and design trances. Writing from his personal experience, Wier suggests that some of these ideas might represent new practical precision tools for psychologists as well as for those who work with the occult. Practical suggestions for meditators, yogis, witches and others are included to deepen trance and to increase the trance force as well as techniques to terminate a trance. Pathological trance and trance abuse are also described with suggestions on how they may be recognized and prevented.

TechGnosis
TechGnosis

Author: Erik Davis

Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Published: 2015-03-17

Total Pages: 457

ISBN-13: 1583949305

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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.

Magic and Loss
Magic and Loss

Author: Virginia Heffernan

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2017-06-27

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1501132679

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Virginia Heffernan gives a highly informative analysis of what the internet is and can be in an examination of its past, present and future.

Too Much Magic
Too Much Magic

Author: James Howard Kunstler

Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic

Published: 2012-06-19

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 0802194389

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The author of The Long Emergency explains why technology can’t solve all our problems, and how excessive optimism can endanger our future. The Long Emergency quickly became a grassroots hit, offering a shocking vision of our post-oil future and capturing the attention of environmentalists and business leaders alike. As discussion about our dependence on fossil fuels and our dysfunctional financial and government institutions continues, the author returns with Too Much Magic—evaluating what has changed and what has not, and what direction we need to take in this post-financial-crisis world. “Too much magic” is what James Howard Kunstler sees in the bright utopian visions of the future dreamed up by optimistic souls who believe technology will solve all our problems. Their visions remind him of the flying cars and robot maids that were the dominant images of the future in the 1950s. Kunstler’s image of the future is much more sober. With vision, clarity of thought, and a pragmatic worldview, Kunstler argues that the time for magical thinking and hoping for miracles is over—and the time to begin preparing for the long emergency has begun. “A sharp critic of energy-sucking, big-box landscapes.” —Winnipeg Free Press

Profiles Of The Future
Profiles Of The Future

Author: Arthur C. Clarke

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2013-03-29

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 0575121823

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An inquiry into the limits of the possible. Our problems on Jupiter, Mercury, Venus - conquering Time - transport in the future - overcoming gravity - communications across space - benevolent electronic brains. The range of this enthralling book is immense: from the re-making of the human mind to the vast reaches of the universe. Newly revised, even the remarkable events of the last decade have affected few of the exciting speculations by Arthur C. Clarke - a scientist whose expert and wide knowledge is matched only by his brilliant imagination.

Global Magic
Global Magic

Author: Alf Hornborg

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-04-08

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 1137567872

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Modern thought on economics and technology is no less magical than the world views of non-modern peoples. This book reveals how our ideas about growth and progress ignore how money and machines throughout history have been used to exploit less affluent parts of world society. The argument critically explores a middle ground between Marxist political ecology and Actor-Network Theory.

Industrial Light & Magic
Industrial Light & Magic

Author: Mark Cotta Vaz

Publisher: Random House Digital, Inc.

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 0345381521

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The way that special effects are designed and then created in films is explained in this lavishly illustrated book that traces the development of the ILM company of George Lucas.

Triumph of the Darksword
Triumph of the Darksword

Author: Margaret Weis

Publisher: Spectra

Published: 2010-07-21

Total Pages: 381

ISBN-13: 0307434680

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Volume III in the heroic saga of magic, betrayal and adventure, The Darksword Trilogy. In the realm where magic is life, Joram was one of the Dead. Born without power, he was denies his royal birthright and sentenced to the Turning—his mind to be imprisoned inside a husk of living stone. Yet at the last moment, Saryon took his place, suffering the eternal torment for his young master, And joram and his wife Gwendolyn vanished into the mists that marked the Border of the World. . . . Now, ten years later, Joram and Gwendolyn have returned to reclaim their rightful place in Merilon. Wielding one last time the terrible, magic-thirsting Darksword, Joram must confront the evil sorcerer Menju and his army of Technologists from beyond the Border in a final apocalyptic battle. Rejoined by Saryon, the mage Mosiah and Simkin, Joram will fulfill the ancient prophecy of the Darksword—the prophecy that puts in his hands the power to destroy the world . . . or save it.

Books of Magic Vol. 3: Dwelling in Possibility
Books of Magic Vol. 3: Dwelling in Possibility

Author: Kat Howard

Publisher: Vertigo

Published: 2021-02-16

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 1779512414

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John Constantine is back-and, unfortunately for Tim Hunter, he’s convinced the only way the human race can survive is if Tim is taken off the board. But from where Tim’s standing, he’s the only one with the power to save us all. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? And is there room in London for the both of them? That’s just the start of Tim’s troubles-because his evil doppelgänger has been unleashed on the world! Collects Books of Magic #14-23.