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Is Technology Magic? Rationalism, the Occult, and the Re-Enchantment of the World with John Ganz, Max Read, and Tara Isabella Burton
December 12, 2023 at 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm EST
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Join Tara I. Burton, John Ganz, and Max Read for a panel on the religious and spiritual implications behind contemporary Silicon Valley culture, from the “postrationalist” turn to the influence of 19th century spiritual movements like New Thought on contemporary politics.
Join three authors and culture critics specializing in the intersection of historical inquiry and today’s Silicon Valley culture for a conversation on the religious, spiritual, and aesthetic dimensions of contemporary political life.
John Ganz is the author of When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s, forthcoming from Farrar, Straus & Giroux. He writes Unpopular Front, a Substack newsletter and co-hosts the podcast Unclear and Present Danger with Jamelle Bouie. In the past, he has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, and The New Statesman.
Max Read is a journalist, screenwriter, editor, and the owner-operator of Read Max, a weekly newsletter guide to the future. His work concerns the weird ways the internet makes us think, feel and organize ourselves. His writing has appeared in various publications with the words “New York” in the title, including New York magazine, The New York Times, and The New York Times Magazine. He’s also the former editor of multiple defunct websites, including Gawker and Select All. His Bookforum essay “Going Postal” was selected for the Best American Essays collection, and his New York feature “The Year in Memes” was nominated for a National Magazine Award. In 2011 he also received the “Best Personal Tumblr” award from The Village Voice. He lives in New York City with his family.
Tara Isabella Burton is the author of the novels Social Creature, The World Cannot Give, and the forthcoming Here in Avalon (Simon & Schuster, January 2024), as well as the nonfiction books Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World and Self-Made: Curating Our Image from Da Vinci to the Kardashians. She is currently working on a history of magic and modernity, to be published by Convergent in late 2025.
Recommended readings:
- John’s Substack
- Max’s Substack
- ‘Rational Magic’ by Tara Isabella Burton
