PB101: Hacking the Invisible

The occult magician and the hacker/inventor both attempt to break open conventional ways of working with the forces that shape our lives.

Peter Bebergal will take participants through the history of how human beings have attempted to interact with the otherworldly using technology to ‘hack’ the machine of the universe. Stemming from a class originally given at the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, this presentation will cover the legend of the golem, automata, and the uncanny valley; magic lanterns and natural magic; and spirit photography and electronic voice phenomena. Belief in the supernatural is not a prerequisite to enchantment. Technology has long offered means through which we can engage with our occult imagination.

If we consider magic to be the ability to inhabit, manipulate, and eventually exteriorize one’s imagination, what was once called “magic,” the seed of all religious practice, we now call “technology” and use toward the same ultimate goal. Join Peter for philosophical experimentation and conjuration at the intersection of hacking, consciousness, and magic.