The Internet Was Never Just Technology...

Is the internet just wires and code—or a realm shaped by unseen influences, superstitions, and a tangled lineage of occult beliefs? For anyone who has experienced a viral meme, witnessed the eerie synchronicity of an algorithm, or been swept up in swirling digital rumors, you may have wondered if there’s something uncanny lurking underneath our modern digital world. Join us as we pull back the curtain on the mystical origins and present-day folklore of the web, guided by insights from Shira Chess, a scholar of digital media, folklore, and the author of The Unseen Internet: Conjuring the Occult in Digital Discourse.

Where Magic Meets Technology: A Hidden History

If you’ve ever joked that your smartphone is magic or felt a weird sense of fate while scrolling, you’re not alone. Shira Chess’s research dives deep into how supernatural, paranormal, and occult beliefs are embedded in the very fabric of our online lives. Rather than focusing on whether magic is real, Chess explores the “discourse”—the conversations, beliefs, rituals, and superstitions that naturally arise when humans interact with technology. Her findings point to an astonishing overlap: at moments of technological innovation, from the telegraph to the birth of the internet, esoteric yearnings and magical thinking surface alongside scientific breakthroughs.

This is not coincidental. In the earliest days of the internet, as it evolved from hobbyist playground to global necessity, technologists and users alike brought with them a mosaic of spiritual traditions and magical beliefs. Some of the most influential architects of early computing, like Jacques Vallée, even described secretive groups that used networks to share everything from drugs to spells. Bulletin board systems (BBSs) and early Usenet groups in the 1980s and ’90s saw the rise of PodsNet—an underground network devoted to the discussion and distribution of occult texts. Suddenly, practices and information that once lived in the cultural shadows moved to the center of a new kind of digital folklore.

The Many Faces of Occult Influence in Silicon Valley

But what exactly was fueling this occult revival in internet culture? Chess and other scholars note that Silicon Valley, far from being a strictly rational or purely technological bubble, was permeated by a wild fusion of spiritual, mystical, and occult beliefs. Technopagans, chaos magicians, cyberpunks, and Discordians mingled with software engineers and countercultural thinkers, drawing as much inspiration from esoteric traditions as from technical manuals. Influences ranged from Eastern spiritual practices and indigenous beliefs to revived witchcraft and even new, hybrid systems like chaos magic.

This syncretic melting pot influenced the web’s development, embedding a sense that technology could be a portal to the unknown, an expansive world where boundaries blur and reality is open to reinterpretation. The programming rituals and semi-mystical language of tech culture only reinforced these parallels: as Chess observes, many early coders saw programming itself as akin to casting spells—an act of transformation and creation in an intangible medium.

Algorithms as Modern-Day Oracles

Flash forward to today, and those magical echoes are everywhere. Algorithms, the mysterious engines shaping what we see online, are often discussed in almost religious terms. People speak of “trusting the algorithm,” hoping it brings them what they subconsciously desire or fearing its inexplicable influence over their digital destinies. This isn’t so different from consulting an oracle or seeking signs from beyond.

Social media platforms are alive with modern rituals—manifestation communities, reality-shifting groups, and users who try to “game” digital systems with subliminals or intention. People ascribe personalities or mystical powers to algorithms, imagining them as capricious gods controlling visibility, fortune, and social status. Chess describes this as “algorithmic conspirituality”: the belief that digital randomness might deliver exactly what you’re meant to see, much like flipping through Tarot cards or awaiting the next song on the radio for a cosmic nudge.

What Happens When Folklore Goes Viral

But the internet is not just a playground for communal imagination. As Chess points out, it has enabled marginalized or fringe beliefs to find community and voice—and at the same time, provided a hiding place for those seeking to keep their spiritual practices out of the cultural mainstream. The viral nature of memes, conspiracy theories, and fandoms creates a new kind of folklore, one that is global, fluid, and rapidly evolving.

This can be both empowering and troubling. While the early internet was a venue for exploration and shared wonder, the immense scale and anonymity of modern social platforms can also amplify dangerous panics, misinformation, and a sense of existential unease. As Chess notes, our collective relationship to technology now resembles the mythic concept of the "egregor"—a shared thought-form or consciousness born from collective belief and amplified by network effects. In this reading, corporations and digital systems become monsters of our own creation, giving rise to phenomena that both empower and constrain us.

Section: Technology’s Ancient Anxiety—and New Warnings

So, is the internet inherently magical, or merely a neutral tool shaped by human hunger for wonder and fear of the unknown? Chess argues for a “yes and” answer. Technology is always filtered through the lens of human experience: awe, anxiety, superstition, and the relentless quest for meaning. The internet feels magical not only because of its complexity, but because we invest it with our imaginations, hopes, and fears.

However, there are warnings embedded in technological history. The enthusiastic technopaganism and optimism of the ’90s have given way to new concerns, especially as artificial intelligence grows more sophisticated. Chess warns that the real risk isn’t that AI becomes conscious or truly mystical—but that we mistake the magic trick for actual magic, surrendering our agency to corporations selling us digital “deities in a box.” The danger is not in conjuring demons, but in forgetting the difference between the human and the technological, and in letting collective anxieties be exploited by the powerful.

Bringing It All Together: Our Digital Rituals and the Human Heart

Ultimately, what matters most is not the technology itself, but how people use it to shape—and be shaped by—their world. As Chess reflects, “our humanity always shows through”; even in the most synthetic spaces, people find ways to express creativity, build community, and explore the mysteries of existence. The digital world is an extension of our folklore, our rituals, and our enduring curiosity about the unseen forces in life.

As you scroll, share, and search, consider this: The magic is not just in the machine, but in the stories we tell, the communities we form, and the ancient, invisible threads that link every keystroke to the bigger mysteries of being human. The internet, for all its glitches and chaos, still reflects the ancient human drama of wonder, fear, and the longing to connect—with each other, and with the unknown.

If you’re intrigued by these ideas, check out Shira Chess’s The Unseen Internet: Conjuring the Occult in Digital Discourse (available from MIT Press and major booksellers), and explore how digital folklore continues to shape our sense of reality. You might never look at your next viral meme quite the same way again.

📕 Guest: Shira Chess

📖 Learn more about Shira's work:

MIT Press – The Unseen Internet (https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262553889/the-unseen-internet/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)