19 June 2005

Divination

Scott Spiegelberg has had two weeks of attempting to manifest the mysteries by using random iPod tracks and merging them with a Tarot reading: thus, the iChing [via Preposterous Universe]. Very entertaining.

I'm surprised I haven't heard of more divine leveraging of such computational randomness. It reminds me of a recent report I had read about [source?] where delusions were studied along with their relationship to modern technology. The example I remember is of a lady who felt that the top search results of a specific phrase were being sent to her specifically by unseen forces (the important point being that a different set of high-ranked hits would have instilled a different delusion). What was once only borrowed from the complexity of nature is now being subsumed by complex technology.

[ posted by sstrader on 19 June 2005 at 2:54:24 PM in Culture & Society ]