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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...

A Random Selection

The Play-Doh of the Future, Here Today
Technoculture
5 min
The Play-Doh of the Future, Here Today
The Soft Machine of Gak

Daimonic Conversations
Expanding Mind Podcast
Daimonic Conversations
Expanding Mind

Technocultures of Consciousness
Media
Technocultures of Consciousness
A Consciousness Hacking talk

Rick Griffin, Superstar
Art and Design
Rick Griffin, Superstar

A look at the art and spiritual struggle of the great psychedelic poster artist.

The Occult Revival: Then and Now
Media
The Occult Revival: Then and Now
October 2019, Philosophical Research Society

The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Moving Pictures
10 min
The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
The hottest media meme/kiddie-toy infection of the mid-1990s

Cross Cultural Qawwali
Expanding Mind Podcast
Cross Cultural Qawwali
Expanding Mind

Sounding Off and On
Burning Shore
10 min
Sounding Off and On

Plus News and Notes