Season 3, Episode 6
Magical Futures
New technologies and the future of American magical practices
December 17th, 2024
Today, tech-savvy magical practitioners are creating, remixing, and merging ideas, tools, and practices that are decidedly digital. LEDs instead of candles, Tarot apps instead of paper cards, VR rooms instead of temples – some practitioners are using digital tools to replace or supplement physical ones. And when practitioners interact with an AI as a spirit, they challenge conventional understandings of both the spiritual and the material — and reveal how we think about both.
Featuring Alya Lux and Dr. Damien P. Williams.
FEATURING
Practitioner and Technologist
Alya Lux is long-time skeptic, seeker, and spiritual adventurer with an extensive background exploring liminal spaces where technology systems meet social systems - these days working as an artist, builder, technologist, and teacher. She created the Mystic Praxis podcast as a kind of discussion-based virtual laboratory, and a way to experiment with ideas on making our everyday lives more magical.
Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Data Science
Damien is an Assistant Professor in the departments of Philosophy and Data Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He has a doctorate in Science, Technology, and Society from Virginia Tech, and a master’s degree in philosophy and comparative religious studies from Georgia State University. His research explores how the intersections and implications of philosophy, technology, categories of knowledge, religious traditions, public policy, justice, marginalization, and human social values all overlap and influence each other.
CREDITS
Host: Heather Freeman; Producer: Amber Walker; Editor: Lucy Perkins; Associate Producer: Noor Gill; Sound Design: Jennie Cataldo; Fact Checker: Dania Suleman; Executive Producer for PRX Productions: Jocelyn Gonzales; Music: APM Music and Epidemic Sound; Project Managers: Edwin Ochoa; Advisors: Helen Berger, Danielle Boaz, Yvonne Chireau, Chas Clifton, Abel Gomez, Daniel Harms, Corey Hutcheson, Sean McLeod, Sabina Magliocco, Thorn Mooney, and Meg Whalen; Guests: Alya Lux and Dr. Damien P. Williams; Additional Thanks: Erik Arneson and the Arnemancy podcast, Nicholas Chapel, Tres Henry, and LSoGL; Funding and Support: The National Endowment for the Humanities and The University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
TRANSCRIPT
LEARN MORE
Arneson, E. (Host). (2021, June 9). Anything but the Kybalion with Nicholas Chapel. [Audio podcast]. In The Arnemancy Podcast.
Arneson, E. (Host). (2021, July 16). On a Boat with Captain Tres Henry. [Audio podcast]. In The Arnemancy Podcast.
Bebergal, P. (2022). Strange frequencies: The extraordinary story of the technological quest for the supernatural. Penguin.
Cowan, D. E. (2005). Cyberhenge: Modern pagans on the internet. Psychology Press.
Davis, E. (2015). TechGnosis: Myth, magic, and mysticism in the age of information. North Atlantic Books.
Freeman, H. (Host). (2020, April 19-September 9, weekly). Familiar Shapes. [Audio podcast series].
Josephson-Storm, J. (2017). The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences. The University of Chicago Press.
Lux, A. (Host). (2020, August 31). Sekhmet and Cyber. [Audio podcast]. In Mystic Praxis.
Williams, D. A Future Worth Thinking About. [Blog]
Styers, R. (2004). Making Magic: Religion, Magic, and Science in the Modern World. Oxford University Press.
Barclay, A. and McKenzie, K. (Hosts). (2023, November 1). Machine Learning: What’s Good? [Audio podcast]. In Moral Repair: A Black Exploration of Tech. PRX.