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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...

Ask Dr. D. 11
Burning Shore
Ask Dr. D. 11
Schismogenesis, Subculture, and the Inevitable Discord Server

Getting Higher
Expanding Mind Podcast
Getting Higher
Expanding Mind

Tantric Tragedy
Expanding Mind Podcast
Tantric Tragedy

Scott Carney talks about renegade gurus, the dangers of meditation, and his book Death on Diamond Mountain: A True Story…

Mount Daumal
Articles and Essays
Mount Daumal
Rene Daumal, his life and work

Marvelous Moments
Expanding Mind Podcast
Marvelous Moments
Expanding Mind

Master of Reality
Articles and Essays
Master of Reality
John Darnielle's metal redemption

De Landa Destratified
Mind and Philosophy
De Landa Destratified
The Liquefaction of Manuel De Landa

Lutz Dammbeck’s The Net
Moving Pictures
Lutz Dammbeck’s The Net
A Unabomber documentary

The Thing is Alive
Art and Design
The Thing is Alive
Artist Mark Leckey's Wunderkammer

Big Dreams
Expanding Mind Podcast
Big Dreams
Expanding Mind

Tolkien Fandom and LoTR
Articles and Essays, Moving Pictures
Tolkien Fandom and LoTR
Tolkien Fandom and Peter Jackson's LOTR

Inside Madness
Expanding Mind Podcast
Inside Madness
Expanding Mind

Adventures through the Mind
Media
Adventures through the Mind
A podcast with James Jesso

Prescription drugs for the mind
Mind and Philosophy
Prescription drugs for the mind
The Matrix and Pharmacology

Cthulhu is not Cute!
Esoterica
Cthulhu is not Cute!

Plushies, tentacle porn, the terrifying obscenity of Cute.

Deleuze & Guattari’s What is Philosophy?
Mind and Philosophy
Deleuze & Guattari’s What is Philosophy?
D&G's "virtual philosophy"