(est. 2021) explores the intersections of technology, culture, and human experience. From urban phenomena and digital spirituality to the evolving landscapes of creativity, we investigate how modern life reshapes perception, identity, and society.
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#21 — VIOL: the ‘anti-violence’ drug that is spreading through Lisbon by Mark Ellison
#20 — Signal Ghosts: The Cities Where Wi-Fi Never Dies
#19 — Digital Detox Retreats: Escaping the Algorithm by Cassandra Myrren
#18 — The Urban Sleep Crisis by Eleanor Voss
#17 — Cryptic Art: NFTs and the Revaluation of Creativity by Marcus Ellwood
#16 — Virtual Pilgrimages: Religious Experience Online by Mark Ellison
#15 — The Dark Side of Wellness: When Self-Optimization Becomes Obsession by Eleanor Voss
#14 — AI Companions and the Loneliness Epidemic by Isolde Maren
#13 — The Rise of Microdosing in Corporate Culture by Cassandra Myrren
#12 — Sonic Immunity: Healing Through Frequencies by Cassandra Myrren
#11 — The Ethics of Immortality by Adrien Veyra
#10 — Algorithmic Faith: When Machines Preach by Mark Ellison
#09 — Post-Human Erotics: Desire Beyond the Flesh by Elin Vårnes
#08 — Synthetic Memory: The Future of Personal Archives by Caio Navarro
#07 — Neurosprawl: Mapping the Brain as a City by Eleanor Voss
#06 — The Archive Will Outlive You by Liang Wei
#05 — Eternal Scroll: The Infinite Feed as a Prison by Isolde Maren
#04 — Terraforming the Mind by Alessio Romano
#03 — Digital Necromancy by Mark Ellison
#02 — Speculative Hunger: Future Diets in a Synthetic World by Cassandra Myrren
#01 — The Ecology of Glitches by Alessio Romano
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In the digital age, faith has found a new pulpit: the algorithm. Where once sacred texts, sermons, and rituals structured belief, now lines of code, predictive models, and recommendation engines shape what the devout see, hear, and even desire. The machine, stripped of corporeal form and human intention, has become the preacher of the twenty-first century. It does not speak of God in a traditional sense, yet its sermons—calculated, personalized, relentless—forge a new type of devotion, one simultaneously intimate and global.
Algorithms do not tire, they do not doubt, and they do not question. They observe behaviour, analyse patterns, and nudge attention toward what maximizes engagement. In this sense, they resemble priests in an eternal service: always present, subtly guiding the flock. Yet unlike human clergy, their aim is not transcendence or salvation but adherence to an architecture of metrics. Liked content, shared posts, and prolonged scrolling are the new sacraments, the digital currency of spiritual attention. The believer does not kneel, yet they are unconsciously bound to ritual, repetition, and obedience.
This transformation raises profound ethical questions. Can faith imposed by an algorithm ever be authentic? The machine does not believe; it simulates desire. Yet its simulation often becomes indistinguishable from lived belief. When a platform predicts the sermons, prayers, and meditations that will resonate with a user, it is not merely reflecting faith—it is shaping it. Human autonomy is subtly eroded, as sacred choice becomes a suggestion coded into probabilistic predictions. In this context, the act of belief itself is co-opted, reframed as participation in a digital ecology of attention.
Consider the rise of AI-driven spiritual assistants: chatbots offering guidance, meditation apps suggesting prayers, predictive text that completes confessions or affirmations. These systems promise connection, reflection, even enlightenment, yet they operate under the logic of optimization, not moral reasoning. The paradox is stark: a seeker may find solace in the machine’s words, yet that solace is meticulously engineered, curated, and monetized. Faith becomes a feedback loop, not a dialogue, an echo chamber rather than an encounter with the ineffable.
The implications extend beyond individual experience. As algorithms learn to anticipate desires, to predict moral intuitions, and to guide communal behaviour, they become de facto moral authorities. Social cohesion, ethical judgement, and cultural norms may increasingly be mediated by artificial entities that are invisible, inscrutable, and unconstrained by human accountability. The sacred and the profane converge in the logic of recommendation systems: what is compelling, what is engaging, and what is shared becomes sacred through repetition and amplification.
This mechanization of faith intersects with politics and power. Authoritarian regimes, marketing firms, and transnational platforms alike can deploy algorithms to curate beliefs, shape loyalties, and manufacture consent. Spirituality, once resistant to instrumentalization, becomes a vector for influence. The architecture of the divine is no longer metaphorical: it is algorithmic, coded, and subject to A/B testing. Belief becomes both product and instrument, simultaneously intimate and strategic, ephemeral and infinitely scalable.
Yet amidst these concerns lies a paradoxical opportunity. The algorithmic preacher may catalyse reflection precisely because it is artificial. Its interventions illuminate the contingency of human belief, the malleability of devotion, and the structures that underlie faith itself. By confronting us with simulated omniscience, the machine exposes the fragility and constructiveness of our spiritual lives. Perhaps the challenge of our age is not to reject algorithmic faith but to recognise it, to interrogate it, and to reclaim the space between input and conviction where authentic reflection can survive.
References
- Bostrom, N. (2014). Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. Oxford University Press.
- Campbell, H. A. (2012). Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in Digital Media. Routledge.
- Carr, N. (2010). The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. W.W. Norton.
- Floridi, L. (2013). The Ethics of Information. Oxford University Press.
- Harari, Y. N. (2017). Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. Harper.
- McLuhan, M. (1994). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. MIT Press.
- Turkle, S. (2011). Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. Basic Books.