In his book Techgnosis (New York: Crown Publishers, 1998) Erik Davis argues that with the world dominated by technology and the human mind by science, "somewhere along the line it seems we must become machines".
A detailed study of how the spiritual imagination is evolving with changing technology, Techgnosis points out potential hazards of the information technology age to people interested in exploring their human potential.
Davis observes (citing Jacques Ellul's 1954 book The Technological Society) that technology is more than a tool. It permeates society, including the procedures, languages and social conditions generated by the "rationality" of modern institutions, bureaucracies and technocratic organisations. With psychologist Charles Tait, he warns of a "consensus trance", automatic and socially-imposed thoughts and behaviour in a small frame, "the particular social construction of reality [people] have been hypnotically conditioned to perceive and maintain since birth".
The global economic system doesn't help, with its use of technology to find the best and most profitable fit for producers and consumers.
Technology and Progress
Part of the problem for spiritual seekers is the Western faith in technology as the basis of progress. Thus a hero no longer seeks the holy grail, but seeks to save the world through applied science. As the Suite 101 article Creative Answers to Global Issues observes, this approach not only diverts the attention of the "religiously" interested, but is seen as unlikely to solve complex problems such as world hunger and climate change.
A Quick Fix Culture
Davis identifies as trends of the information age "an escapist desire for vivid and entertaining trances, and a utilitarian desire to reorganise the self according to the productive and efficient logic of the machine". Thus the belief that one can achieve happiness (and prosperity) through simple techniques such as positive thinking. As authors such as Richard Layard point out, human beings do not become happy through excessive self-focus, because they are deeply social animals.
More seriously, Davis warns of "creepy cultic hazards" that can arise when spiritual seekers put their faith in "therapeutic" techniques that require adherence to teachings or teachers. He describes Scientology as a "corporate cybernetic" movement that began simply through offering followers control of their own minds.
The unifying theme in these observations is, as expressed by Davis, not to mistake technological possibilities for spiritual ones. Although he considers that the earth's inherent energies may have already made "alliances" with machines, and that the human spirit is being shaped by technology, there is still hope. The Suite 101 article Spiritual Seeking and the World Wide Web examines the positive use of information technology to support "religious" imagination.
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