"strange, invisible entities drifting through cyberspace..."
A new documentary explores connections between bots and early modern witch trials. Heather Freeman compares bots to witches' familiars as mysterious tools, sneaky entities, and havoc causers.
bots are quickly becoming the bête noires of the digital age in the public mind—and yet few have sought to link them to the spirits of the Old World, the entities that once enthralled and haunted the minds of generations of philosophers.
Here's the documentary's trailer: 'Familiar Shapes' Documentary Summary from Heather D. Freeman on Vimeo.
(thanks to Jesse "Vinegar Tom" Walker)
Totally cyber-stalking myself for my annual report, wouldn't you know. :)
Thanks for the post on this. If you're interested, I did an interview with the Thinker's Garden on Familiar Shapes. http://www.thethinkersgarden.com/2018/03/from-spirit-to-social-bot-the-familiar-shapes-documentary/#.WswaUsgh0Wo
Infocult is a great blog, I'm enjoying digging into it, by the way, thank you for doing it!
Posted by: Heather Freeman | April 09, 2018 at 22:01
My dear Heather, many thanks for the sweet words, and also for the article pointer.
Please keep up the fine work!
Posted by: Bryan Alexander | April 13, 2018 at 21:23