BACK IN THE SADDLE! We finally return to the world of audio podcasting after a few weeks of video capture and training (coming June 2009). This week we dream of android-sheep, with cultural critic and social theorist Erik Davis. In this (the first of many we hope) interview, we decided to focus on Erik’s study of visionary-author Phillip K. Dick, as well as a brief look at Davis’ own ‘Techgnosis’ studies. In this episode we discuss: Phillip K. Dick’s bizzare life, the ‘pink laser’ experience, the Valis-trilogy, Dick’s exegesis, Technosis and much more.
While our first-officer, Claire Lumiere, remains aurally-absent again this week; our sub-mariner, Daddytank, and his navy of musical vessels, defend our shores of the alternative once again with his excellent ‘Myspace Heroes’. This weeks high-yield torpedoes come in shape of:
Migration – They Said That Committed Suicide
action world ! – am i paranoia
Dotted Fielda – rainDance
Xela – Beatae Immortalitatis
Join us next week, and we mean next week this time, with an amazing interview with returning guests Douglas Rushkoff and Richard Metzger!
Erik Davis Biog:
Erik Davis is a San Franciso-based writer, culture critic, and independent scholar. His book TechGnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information was released by Harmony Books in the fall of 1998. It has been translated into five languages, and has achieved, in certain circles, the vaguely enviable status of a “cult classic.” Davis is a contributing writer for Wired magazines, and wrote “The Posthuman Condition” column for the sadly departed online magazine Feed. His essays have appeared in over half a dozen books, including Zig Zag Zen: Buddhism and Psychedelics (Chronicle), The Disinformation Book of Lies (Disinfo), Prefiguring Cyberculture (MIT Press) and Paul “DJ Spooky” Miller’s Sound Unbound (MIT). He has contributed articles and essays to a wide variety of publications, including Bookforum, The Wire, ArtByte, the LA Weekly, Gnosis, and the Village Voice. His articles have been translated for publication in countries ranging from Japan to Brazil to Hungary.
Davis has taught at the California Institute of Integral Studies, the New York Open Center, and Esalen, and was one of the organizers of Planetwork, a conference on information technology and global ecology held in San Francisco in 2000. He has been interviewed by CNN, has popped up on radio shows internationally, and appeared prominently in Craig Baldwin’s underground film, the SciFi media critique Specters of the Spectrum. His in-depth studies of the science fiction author Philip K. Dick have been acknowledged by the New Yorker. Davis has also lectured internationally on topics relating to media arts, contemporary electronic music, and spirituality in the postmodern world.
Davis is a fifth-generation Californian, and is currently working with the photographer Michael Rauner on California Visions, a photo-essay travelogue through the Golden State’s landscape of alternative spirituality. He is also at work on a short book about Led Zeppelin, and various fragments of bardo fiction.
Ahoy m’hearties.
Ah! It’s nice to find this little gem among my podcast downloads for this week. thanks =)
Man, I hope you can get Davis back more often. He’s a geyser of smartness. Wait — better: Any chance ever of a round table at some point with Davis, Rushkoff, and Jon Ronson.
I always wanted to ask Davis about the Florida International University anthropology prof who uses the term techngnosis in some of his work, including an essay called “Techgnosis, Infomysticism, and the War Against Entropy.” The guy’s name is Dr. Steven Mizrach, and he teaches a theme called CyberAnthropology.
I’m curious if there’s any connection; Davis’ book TechGnosis was published in 1998, and Mizrach’s essay was published in 1997. Do they know each other? Davis was writing his book at the same time Mizrach published his essay, but Mizrach isn’t cited in Davis, and Davis isn’t cited in Mizrach — however, on Mizrach’s homepage he has a link to Davis’s page.
I won’t post any links; the links on Mizrach’s pages are a mess (ironic for a guy professing in cyberculture), but his web work is easy enough to find.
By the way, what background music were you playing before the interview? I was listening to that two weeks ago, but now I’m grading finals, can’t remember where it’s from, and don’t have it in me to sift through hundreds of tracks to find that one song. So it’s become an earworm — help me pull it out.
Hey guys, thanks for the kind words!
The background music was Bonobo if I remember correctly
THAT’S the song — it’s called Recurring, on Days to Come and Solid Steel: It Came From the Sea.
What a good primate.
This episode keeps stopping for me at 11.50 – any ideas to get it to work better?
hmmm, that’s weird, i’ll re-upload it now.
If it doesn’t work again email me at ken@sittingnow.co.uk, and i’ll send you the show on rapidshare or something 🙂
Ken
I dont think that the first track is bonobo.. but it sounds great.
the mix of radiohead sounds great too. its refreshing.
what is it? – ~1h20
first time i am that impressed by erik. nice to meet him where he actually started, it was a good ground to get a wider picture of his vision, i believe.
ooops..
i was still listening actually, and you gave the info.
i ‘d still like to know about the first track though..
Which track do you mean? If you mean the track that opens the show, that’s written by Nicky Bovil, our musical director. If you mean the track playing in the background over the dialogue before and after the interview, then yes it is Bonobo (as we discussed above). If you mean one of the tracks in the segment after the interview, Kim’s (Daddytank) Myspace heroes, then, I’d ask him 🙂
Great episode, great guy. Almost a two parter with the Jim Elvidge episode. Now I have to read some Phillip K Dick. The only thing I was disappointed about was the lack of Dick jokes…. and the fact that the editor went on holiday at about 1 hr 26 mins in.
Nice work Ken-dawg.