New Cybernetic Esoterica

​A Public Conversation between Erik Davis and Megan Phipps

​Join acclaimed writer Erik Davis (Techgnosis, High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies, and more) and researcher Megan Phipps (PhD Research Fellow, Gray Area) for a speculative dialogue on the occult dimensions of our cybernetic age.

​Building on their earlier conversation, "New Cybernetic Psychedelia," this discussion ventures into deeper esoteric territory, examining how ancient wisdom traditions are being reformatted through algorithmic systems, (re)processed via iterative loops, and how computational networks function as conduits for mystical systems.

​Set within TIAT’s If Then Amen exhibition—surrounded by artworks that investigate computational divinity and networked belief systems—Davis and Phipps will explore how technology operates as oracle, altar, and confessional in an age of intelligent machines.

​TIAT (The Intersection for Art & Technology), San Francisco

​--

​Erik Davis is an author and cultural critic exploring the intersections of technology, mysticism, and media. His work traces how systems of communication reshape consciousness, belief, and subjectivity. Through books like Techgnosis and High Weirdness, Davis examines the feedback loops between machines, perception, and spirituality, positioning contemporary culture within a longer history of psychedelic and technological entanglement.

​Megan Rebecca Phipps is a researcher and writer focused on new media theory, experimental film, and psychedelic culture. Her work investigates the relationships between cybernetics, audiovisual systems, and altered states of perception, often tracing connections between early video art, trance subcultures, and contemporary digital media. Through interviews and critical writing, she explores how technological systems shape both collective experience and inner consciousness.

​​​​​tiat is the intersection of art and technology! tiat is a gallery for artworks using technology as a medium and gathering place for creative technologists to experiment, exhibit, and expand their practice. ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ Our current exhibition if then, amen, explores how algorithms, interfaces, and prediction systems take on becoming oracles, altars, and confessionals. if then, amen is on view during tiat gallery hours through May 11th.