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TechGnosis

The work of Erik Davis

Erik Davis is an American writer, scholar, journalist, and public speaker whose writings range from rock criticism to cultural analysis to esoteric explorations of California’s history.

I’ve been publishing stuff for over three decades, and most of it—with the exception of my books—resides on this site, which I have maintained through various iterations since the late 1990s. With Burning Shore now disseminating my fresher communiqués, Techgnosis.com acts more than ever as an archive of my work, including lectures, interviews, personal reflections, and almost a decade of the Expanding Mind podcast. Like Techgnosis itself, still in print and more relevant than ever, my stuff combines deep research with vivid writing and oracular aims that resonate through the years. For this revamped trans-temporal site, I and my team have introduced more robust searching and cross-linking of materials, as well as a roll-the-dice feature, which will hopefully allow for richer, more entertaining, and more synchronistic wanders through this wunderkammer.  — Erik

  • Books

    Blotter

    The Untold Story of an Acid Medium

    The Untold Story of an Acid Medium

    Blotter by Erik Davis is the first comprehensive written account of the history, art, and design of LSD blotter paper, the iconic drug delivery device that will perhaps forever be linked to underground psychedelic culture and contemporary street art. Created in collaboration with Mark McCloud’s Institute of Illegal Images, the world’s largest archive of blotter art, Davis’s boldly illustrated exhibition treats his outsider subject with the serious, art-historical respect it deserves...

Phantasy Island
Articles and Essays, Esoterica
Phantasy Island
Stanzas by Giorgio Agamben

N. Katherine Hayles’ Posthumanism
Mind and Philosophy
N. Katherine Hayles’ Posthumanism
Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics

Building a Better Self
Media
Building a Better Self
Demystifying Stoic Anthropotechnics

Facing the Darkside
Expanding Mind Podcast
Facing the Darkside
Expanding Mind

Mind Change
Expanding Mind Podcast
Mind Change
Expanding Mind

Cthulhu is not Cute!
Esoterica
Cthulhu is not Cute!

Plushies, tentacle porn, the terrifying obscenity of Cute.

After Buddhism
Expanding Mind Podcast
After Buddhism
Expanding Mind

Jeremy Narby Interview
Psychedelics
Jeremy Narby Interview
The ayahausca anthropologist

Is Yoga a Religion?
Religions and Spirits
Is Yoga a Religion?
The controversies over yoga in schools

The Wandering Sufi
Religions and Spirits
The Wandering Sufi
Into the Mystic with Peter Lamborn Wilson

Halflife iPod
Music
Halflife iPod
Zombie radio

This is Your Brain on Buddha
Mind and Philosophy
This is Your Brain on Buddha
Buddhism and neuroscience

Attics of My Life
Media
Attics of My Life
Deadcast #50

Transcendent Childhood
Expanding Mind Podcast
Transcendent Childhood
Expanding Mind

The Big Playback: Filmi Music
Music
The Big Playback: Filmi Music
Indian Film Music

Psychedelics and Dying
Expanding Mind Podcast
Psychedelics and Dying
Expanding Mind