“Psychedelics are going mainstream. With landmark studies in the last decade showing their incredible potential in treating serious mental health conditions, 2020 saw a goldrush of investment. But what are the implications as psychedelics move from the counterculture to the boardroom? In this short documentary, Alexander Beiner speaks to leading experts in the field – from clinicians and CEO’s to shamans and philosophers – to ask what the rise of psychedelic capitalism means for the future of culture and medicine. Includes interviews with Dr. Rosalind Watts (clinical lead of Imperial College’s groundbreaking psilocybin for depression study), Erik Davis (author of Techgnosis and High Weirdness), Jamie Wheal (author of Stealing Fire), Kat Conour of the Auryn Project, Bill Linton (CEO of The Usona Institute) and Shipibo shaman Jose Lopez Sanchez among others. Are we seeing the birth of a new era in mental health care, or late capitalism’s sneakiest cash grab yet? Turn on and tune in to find out.”
Tag: Erik Davis
“In the last week so many of the topics that Rebel Wisdom has been covering burst onto the world stage, the birth of new religions, the overlap between spirituality and conspiracy/Q Anon, and more, all personified in the iconic image of the “Q Anon Shaman”, leading the mob that stormed the seat of American democracy. In this film, we try to pull apart the deeper strands of mythology, religious fervour and high weirdness with three experts in the esoteric, Erik Davis, Gary Lachman and Jules Evans.”
❝ How does our fascination with technology intersect with the religious imagination? In TechGnosis—a cult classic now updated and reissued with a new afterword—Erik Davis argues that while the realms of the digital and the spiritual may seem worlds apart, esoteric and religious impulses have in fact always permeated (and sometimes inspired) technological communication. Davis uncovers startling connections between such seemingly disparate topics as electricity and alchemy; online roleplaying games and religious and occult practices; virtual reality and gnostic mythology; programming languages and Kabbalah. The final chapters address the apocalyptic dreams that haunt technology, providing vital historical context as well as new ways to think about a future defined by the mutant intermingling of mind and machine, nightmare and fantasy. ❞