The Rise of Techno Spirituality: turning the bits and bytes into something with real meaning
Back in 1999, Cream honed in on the relatively new concept called techno spiritualism. Actually, we’re not sure but we may even have made the concept up. An article in our ’99 Ideas of a Decade’ issue – featuring a model with an octopus on her head (go figure), highlighted how humankind was realising that its soulful side might be overtaken by something as all-consuming and opportunistically inviting as the then-new world wide web. But optimism persisted and by the end of the 20th century, even the totally made-up Y2K bug couldn’t detract our faith from the belief that all was going to be okay and that rapidly changing technology was happening for a good reason.
To quote from the article itself, one of the wonderful things about technology is that you can never predict exactly how it will be used when it first enters the mainstream. The inventors of the car could not have imagined the central part that it plays in contemporary culture: as a symbol of freedom, perhaps, or as a site of sexual awakening. Certainly as something that can take us on some amazing road trips.
The computer and information technology, both which have developed at unbelievable rates, have also taken on cultural dimensions that seem at odds with their original intentions. Where the ‘world’ and the ‘wide’ in ‘www’ alluded to the promise of unity and broader knowledge, fast forward 25 years and you’d think we were living in a totally opposite state. Disagreements and arguments thrive in the comments section of social media posts, and the personal appears to have become too public. So where do we go to, to retrieve some of that long-lost soulfulness? Online, most likely.
Searching for spirituality through something as hard-edge and material as a computer or smartphone has become more possible as the internet has expanded, since it provides access to similar-minded and kindred-spirited people. This allows for a sense of connection, a proliferation of ideas in shared threads and forums, and perhaps even a sense of purpose for some folks.
We’re all tempted in some way by some function of the internet. Haters get to hate. Lovers of sex get to watch endless porn. Foodies get to learn about açai and fonio. Appreciators of pets get to save their furry friends. We can get lost down amazing mazes and fall into unpredictable rabbit holes and suddenly we’re feeling better, some of us enlightened, even.
The net’s seductiveness has always been one of its strengths, especially in its early days, with skinny nerds in Coke-bottle glasses spending hours surfing in states of semi-ecstatic bliss.
As Arthur C. Clarke said, “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. Now, thanks to smartphones and pocket-sized tablets to read on (if only Moses were here to see them), that magic and power is in our very hands.
A miracle of technology: the Motorola razr 60 foldable phone. On this phone today, I changed the tracklisting to an album I recently recorded and mastered, added a story to the Cream website, deleted the last porn site I’d watched, was reminded to stretch and appreciate breath of life itself, got my apps into order, took some beaut photos of the garden, looked at a recipe while cooking dinner, praised some of the things I loved, dissed a bitch when it had to be said, kept an eye on my pet Chihuahua (Ringo), ordered and paid for an Uber, created a playlist for my lover and life partner, wrote some lines that might become a poem or song to record in the future, checked my bank balances, paid this month’s interest on the mortgage, wrote emails to a few community members, donated to an eco charity, bought a book on Amazon, checked on the sales progress of my own books on Amazon, and meditated to some really cool music all thrown to my earbuds via Bluetooth and without the waste of cables, paper and the braincells white noise can kill. Yep, it’s a godsend in my pocket this device. Visit motorola.com.au for more info.
The sense of infinite access when you surf the web can be transcendental; it is as if you are quite literally travelling through time and space – and by time I mean all of history, the endless distortion of it, the moment right here and now, and a couple of predictions about the future from spooky AI or a tarot reader you came across on TikTok. But the seductiveness of the net is also costly. It not only takes up your time, it takes your energy, your money, your guilt and throws it back at you, your laws and regulations and changes these on a whim, and sometimes your sanity – so you better believe that there is something in it for you, too. Otherwise you’re just holding another phone.
Yes, the internet can be detrimental to the soul. At this stage, there is something hollow at the core of the web as data mounts higher and what was once deemed a democratic platform has seen information become classified, placed into hierarchical importance, and often abused when in the wrong hands, be it greedy corporations or a fascist-leaning government. Also, with so much available to us online today, we’re kinda spoilt and there appears to be no sense of importance or even value to things. This all paints a somewhat dismal picture.
Human judgement is essential, then, in navigating the vastness of the cyber landscape, otherwise we end up as mere slaves to information (news, advertising, bigoted opinions, negativity) that we don’t care for or need. We might also fall foul of submitting to an cocky algorithm that ought to know better. What good is a cookie paste pop-up ad to me now, when I’ve had a thousand other thoughts since Google heard me say I quite liked the good stuff earlier in the day? Goodbye Biscoff biscuit spread – I’m already thinking about the leisures of this weekend.
But what happens when there is a glitch in the matrix, and the thing that pops up on your screen is not so much a result of insidious advertising or AI ingenuity but instead an intervention of sorts from something less tangible, more ethereal – indeed, more spiritual. What if a sign, symbol, Instagram pic or TikTok clip stops you in your tracks (or at least stops your swiping) and you suddenly – instantaneously – relate to it. And it leads to something that looks great and makes you feel even greater?
What if Marshall McLuhan’s dictum ‘the medium is the message’ could suddenly apply to the very devices we hold in our hands? These miraculous smart phones and desktop computers that have virtually bionic operators on the other side giving us advice on how to lift ourselves out of a depressive rut or lacklustre state.
That miracle of invention itself – of the phone; the compactness and brilliance and lightness and fabulousness of the Motorola razr 60 vibrating in my pocket – it regularly puts a smile on my face. And if just that moment of miraculous realisation hasn’t hit you now and then, you might be in a bit of web-addicted trouble – too desensitised by all that easy access to information that you’re not amazed by any of it anymore.
Techno spirituality is not so much a movement that states God (or the Devil, for that matter) is in the detail, although it certainly asks its followers to pause for a moment – for real thought and contemplation, or just plain appreciation – on an otherwise messy, haphazard, info-overloaded medium. If the medium really is the message, and you’re hooked on TMZ hype stories, 10-second TikToks, and two-minute hentai clips, without the desire on occasion to really see and recognise and appreciate what’s in front of you, you could be one big mess yourself.
Perhaps that pop-up ad is meant to be the last straw, and you decide there and then to do something about it. Respond to the brand and tell them they’re wasting their marketing dollars on you. Get into arguments with bots. It may seem insane but in the end, if we all let these techno operators know what we’re not happy with, their manufacturers might at least reconsider their marketing and control tactics.
Like Nike say: just do it. Fight the greedy algorithm back. Whether with sarcasm or genuine critique, you’d be surprised at what amazing dialogue you end up becoming a part of with the machine.
The more you draw yourself away from being a slave to the internet, and the more you make its makers meet you on common ground, the better your experience will be with it. That goes for AI as well. It’s not going away any time soon, so you best become friends it with it before it turns you into a total techno-eunich.
Techno spiritualism – or techno Zen, as I like to call it – is not something that’s easy to define, but you’re sure to sense it now and again. It gets easier to understand once you think of all the amazing potential your phone or PC is offering you, and what power you actually have to switch off from insistent apps and clap back at insidious in-your-face ads. I
In the meantime, amid all the overload, try to keep an eye out for really good stuff. It’s there, you’ve just got to wade through a lot of unappealing crap to see it. Soon you’ll be spotting small revelations, some astonishing discoveries, and be getting into some cool conscious sharing that can really take you and your tribe to new, awesome and awe-inspiring places.
EASY DOES IT…
If you intend to practice techno Zen, be weary that it can get all-consuming. Because if Zen philosophy teaches us that the answer is always right in front of us, and Marshall McLuhan’s medium is indeed the message, the lazier of us might end up just staring blankly into cyberspace like proverbial rabbits in front of headlights. Useless. Hopeless. Roadkill on the information superhighway.
While our computers and smart devices play shrine to our desires and hosts to all manner of criss-crossed belief systems, like it or not, all that information is becoming a part of you. Much of it may not be relevant to you at any given time, but you can bet your bottom Bitcoin it’s being stored even at a subliminal level in the mega hard drive that is your brain. And when all that knowledge begins to bend and break and bleed and blend, you’re going to want some positive light relief to cope. You can either stock up on the paracetemol that’s strategically just popped up on your screen, or be better prepared to tune out for some real sense of peace (and for lack of a headache).
Better to get on board with the techno-spirit stuff now, then.
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