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technomagick

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  technomagick David Dalton <dalton@nfld.com> - 2020-08-12 03:28 -0230
    Re: technomagick Ross Presser <rpresser@gmail.com> - 2020-08-12 11:56 -0700
      Re: technomagick J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-08-12 18:57 -0400
    Re: technomagick David Dalton <dalton@nfld.com> - 2020-08-14 01:31 -0230
      Re: technomagick ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) - 2020-08-14 04:07 +0000
        Re: technomagick "pete...@gmail.com" <petertrei@gmail.com> - 2020-08-13 21:19 -0700
          Re: technomagick djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2020-08-14 04:48 +0000
    Re: technomagick mcdowell_ag@sky.com - 2020-08-14 09:55 -0700
      Re: technomagick J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-08-14 13:51 -0400
      Re: technomagick Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2020-08-14 12:55 -0700

#547266 — technomagick

Have any of you ever used the links in networks including the Internet and 
cellular networks as part of your magickal workings, or have you considered 
such usage? How do you think it should be done? Do you know of any SF stories 
that have featured such technomagick?

If my assisted shaktipat eventually is successful, the

dragon lines, updated

item should prove useful in such technomagick for assisted shaktipat 
recipients as well as for me.

(The dragon lines formed on my arms and then on my back after I observed a 
web chart on TV in early 1996, but of course the web has evolved greatly 
since then. I call them dragon lines since they seemed similar to the dragon 
lines in The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, though those were not 
related to technology.)

-- 
David Dalton dalton@nfld.com http://www.nfld.com/~dalton (home page)
http://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns (mystic page)
"That no one seemed to have the time to cherish what was given/Oh and I
would be the last to know and I would be the last to let it show" (S.McL.)

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#547298

On Wednesday, August 12, 2020 at 1:58:22 AM UTC-4, David Dalton wrote:
> Do you know of any SF stories that have featured such technomagick? 

Integrating psionics with computer technology is a common trope. Two
instances I can think of are Janet Morris's _Dream Dancer_, and the Skolian
books by Catherine Asaro. In each of these, a person with telepathic
abilities is able to use them to communicate with computers or computer
networks.

Then there's the Laundry series from Charles Stross, where magic is actually
a branch of mathematics, and computers form an important part of modern
magical tasks. This gets closer to what you're talking about, I think. In _The
Jennifer Morgue_, the antagonist uses a magical face powder to maintain
surveillance over millions of humans, and the operators of that surveillance
directly use computer networks to divide up the work.

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#547325

On Wed, 12 Aug 2020 11:56:01 -0700 (PDT), Ross Presser
<rpresser@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Wednesday, August 12, 2020 at 1:58:22 AM UTC-4, David Dalton wrote:
>> Do you know of any SF stories that have featured such technomagick? 
>
>Integrating psionics with computer technology is a common trope. Two
>instances I can think of are Janet Morris's _Dream Dancer_, and the Skolian
>books by Catherine Asaro. In each of these, a person with telepathic
>abilities is able to use them to communicate with computers or computer
>networks.
>
>Then there's the Laundry series from Charles Stross, where magic is actually
>a branch of mathematics, and computers form an important part of modern
>magical tasks. This gets closer to what you're talking about, I think. In _The
>Jennifer Morgue_, the antagonist uses a magical face powder to maintain
>surveillance over millions of humans, and the operators of that surveillance
>directly use computer networks to divide up the work.

In several of Seanan McGuire's October Daye stories the County (as in
domain headed by a Count, not a subdivision of an American state) of
Tamed Lightning appears.  At least one individual was uploaded into a
computer network (it worked because she was a dryad and the network is
somewhat like a tree IIRC) however their major activity is making
electronics that work in faerie.

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#547432

On Aug 12, 2020, David Dalton wrote
(in article<0001HW.24E3BC7B00061E4170000D4022EF@news.eternal-september.org>):

> Do you know of any SF stories
> that have featured such technomagick?

There are far more stories where there is conflict between
magick and technology.

-- 
David Dalton dalton@nfld.com http://www.nfld.com/~dalton (home page)
http://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns (mystic page)
"That no one seemed to have the time to cherish what was given/Oh and I
would be the last to know and I would be the last to let it show" (S.McL.)

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#547433

In article <0001HW.24E6442700039B2B700008D8D38F@news.eternal-september.org>,
David Dalton  <dalton@nfld.com> wrote:
>On Aug 12, 2020, David Dalton wrote
>(in article<0001HW.24E3BC7B00061E4170000D4022EF@news.eternal-september.org>):
>
>> Do you know of any SF stories
>> that have featured such technomagick?
>
>There are far more stories where there is conflict between
>magick and technology.
>

Has "Waldo" been mentioned?

Also, Devon Monk's Allie Beckstrom books are very much about the
industrialization of magic.
-- 
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

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#547435

On Friday, August 14, 2020 at 12:07:46 AM UTC-4, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> In article <0001HW.24E6442700...@news.eternal-september.org>,
> David Dalton <dal...@nfld.com> wrote: 
> >On Aug 12, 2020, David Dalton wrote 
> >(in article<0001HW.24E3BC7B00...@news.eternal-september.org>): 
> > 
> >> Do you know of any SF stories 
> >> that have featured such technomagick? 
> > 
> >There are far more stories where there is conflict between 
> >magick and technology. 
> >
> Has "Waldo" been mentioned? 
,
 Not so much 'Waldo', but 'Magic, Inc.', which it is often paired with.

I like the Technomages of Babylon 5:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjToVZTqCbw

Pt

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#547439

In article <1b8f6b05-91a8-4b6d-a886-bc97541fa91bn@googlegroups.com>,
pete...@gmail.com <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Friday, August 14, 2020 at 12:07:46 AM UTC-4, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
>> In article <0001HW.24E6442700...@news.eternal-september.org>,
>> David Dalton <dal...@nfld.com> wrote: 
>> >On Aug 12, 2020, David Dalton wrote 
>> >(in article<0001HW.24E3BC7B00...@news.eternal-september.org>): 
>> > 
>> >> Do you know of any SF stories 
>> >> that have featured such technomagick? 
>> > 
>> >There are far more stories where there is conflict between 
>> >magick and technology. 
>> >
>> Has "Waldo" been mentioned? 
>,
> Not so much 'Waldo', but 'Magic, Inc.', which it is often paired with.

Yes, but "Waldo" too.  

{/quick check: it was published in _Astounding_ in 1942.  I was
busy getting born around then, so I can't speak to whether
Campbell was into magic-is-psionics-and-psionics-is-real back
then, but it's not impossible.)

But there's an intangible Other World full of power, which you
can only get at by thinking.  Rather like John Carter getting to
Mars by wishing hard.


-- 
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

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#547454

On Wednesday, August 12, 2020 at 6:58:22 AM UTC+1, David Dalton wrote:
> Have any of you ever used the links in networks including the Internet and 
> cellular networks as part of your magickal workings, or have you considered 
> such usage? How do you think it should be done? Do you know of any SF stories 
> that have featured such technomagick?
> 
> If my assisted shaktipat eventually is successful, the
> 
> dragon lines, updated
> 
> item should prove useful in such technomagick for assisted shaktipat 
> recipients as well as for me.
> 
> (The dragon lines formed on my arms and then on my back after I observed a 
> web chart on TV in early 1996, but of course the web has evolved greatly 
> since then. I call them dragon lines since they seemed similar to the dragon 
> lines in The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, though those were not 
> related to technology.)
> 
> -- 
> David Dalton dalton@nfld.com http://www.nfld.com/~dalton (home page)
> http://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns (mystic page)
> "That no one seemed to have the time to cherish what was given/Oh and I
> would be the last to know and I would be the last to let it show" (S.McL.)

In Charles Stross's Laundry series there are links between mathematics/computer science and magic. At least the first several books of the series are very entertaining, especially if you have had experience of the particular blend of penny-pinching and bureaucracy used by the UK Civil Service. ("The Laundry" is a descendant of S.O.E. specialising in the supernatural).

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#547455

On Fri, 14 Aug 2020 09:55:42 -0700 (PDT), mcdowell_ag@sky.com wrote:

>On Wednesday, August 12, 2020 at 6:58:22 AM UTC+1, David Dalton wrote:
>> Have any of you ever used the links in networks including the Internet and 
>> cellular networks as part of your magickal workings, or have you considered 
>> such usage? How do you think it should be done? Do you know of any SF stories 
>> that have featured such technomagick?
>> 
>> If my assisted shaktipat eventually is successful, the
>> 
>> dragon lines, updated
>> 
>> item should prove useful in such technomagick for assisted shaktipat 
>> recipients as well as for me.
>> 
>> (The dragon lines formed on my arms and then on my back after I observed a 
>> web chart on TV in early 1996, but of course the web has evolved greatly 
>> since then. I call them dragon lines since they seemed similar to the dragon 
>> lines in The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, though those were not 
>> related to technology.)
>> 
>> -- 
>> David Dalton dalton@nfld.com http://www.nfld.com/~dalton (home page)
>> http://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns (mystic page)
>> "That no one seemed to have the time to cherish what was given/Oh and I
>> would be the last to know and I would be the last to let it show" (S.McL.)
>
>In Charles Stross's Laundry series there are links between mathematics/computer science and magic. At least the first several books of the series are very entertaining, especially if you have had experience of the particular blend of penny-pinching and bureaucracy used by the UK Civil Service. ("The Laundry" is a descendant of S.O.E. specialising in the supernatural).

Then there's Margaret Ball's "Mathemagics" stories.

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#547465

On 8/14/2020 9:55 AM, mcdowell_ag@sky.com wrote:
> On Wednesday, August 12, 2020 at 6:58:22 AM UTC+1, David Dalton wrote:
>> Have any of you ever used the links in networks including the Internet and
>> cellular networks as part of your magickal workings, or have you considered
>> such usage? How do you think it should be done? Do you know of any SF stories
>> that have featured such technomagick?
>>
>> If my assisted shaktipat eventually is successful, the
>>
>> dragon lines, updated
>>
>> item should prove useful in such technomagick for assisted shaktipat
>> recipients as well as for me.
>>
>> (The dragon lines formed on my arms and then on my back after I observed a
>> web chart on TV in early 1996, but of course the web has evolved greatly
>> since then. I call them dragon lines since they seemed similar to the dragon
>> lines in The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, though those were not
>> related to technology.)
>>
> 
> In Charles Stross's Laundry series there are links between mathematics/computer science and magic. At least the first several books of the series are very entertaining, especially if you have had experience of the particular blend of penny-pinching and bureaucracy used by the UK Civil Service. ("The Laundry" is a descendant of S.O.E. specialising in the supernatural).
> 
I just finished 'The Nightmare Stacks' and am currently reading 'The 
Delirium Brief' with 'The Labyrinth Index' lined up next.  (In some ways 
the current Laundry story is exploring what happens when your 
supernatural defense people have to spend so much time filling out 
bureaucratic paperwork that they can't do the jobs you hired them for.)

-- 
<to be filled in at a later date>

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