Taking into account the principle of the Primacy of the Ancients, we can affirm that modern technology derives from ancient archetypes. We need to develop a profoundly symbolic understanding of the modern world and its logic. Symbolism in say sacred texts is much more immediate, but due to our condition as moderns, being raised in contemporary society makes it extremely challenging to have a big-picture view of its machines.
Cyberspace
One of the chains of thought within Techgnosis is the idea of science fiction authors drawing consciously or not on ancient wisdom as a source for their predictions (which unavoidably influence the direction of innovative technological efforts themselves).
As an example, Davis cites William Gibbson's invention of 'cyberspace' as being related to the method of loci, a practice in ancient Greece where knowledge was stored spatially.
This is, of course, a precursor to many aspects of online structure. But more especially, it is the generative force behind VR and spatial computing, coming down fast with Apple Vision Pro next year, an effort that will change the course of the entertainment industry at a fundamental level, as well as the annihilation and absolute annihilation of space as we know it.
This gave me food for thought:
I started to compare hardware with wetware.
Music
In my search for systems of musical composition, I came upon many possible MIDI workflows which involved several apps. I eventually came to the realization that if I really wanted to develop something unique and fit for my use, I would probably have to code an app myself. My idea was to generate harmonic progressions, a sequence of chords that could be arpeggiated according to other parameters.
Then during a music festival, while talking to a pianist colleague, he explained to me how he could build in his mind the sound of the chords and not only play them according to their function but also arpeggiate in so many ways I had never imagined before, just due to the sheer quantity of repertoire he played.
So right that moment, I came to see that what would take me years of learning the programming language, developing the app, buying supportive plugins to aid the workflow, and a lot of testing to tweak things right, he was able to do in realtime with nothing but his fingers and a piano.
Information
It is curious to see the disparity of note apps out there. There are so many workflows, and integrations it is hard to keep track of. Optimize, optimize, and optimize.
With so many workflows one would think it is necessary to find the best apps that work for one's objectives and capitalize on them. Put in as much information as possible, sign all cloud services, integrations and premiums so your data, your SECOND BRAIN is never lost.
Yet at the same time, the greatest minds, what workflow do they utilize?
My mentors, masters of music interpretation, don't ever consult their notes if they have any. Much of what they play is by ear and by heart, ready at the tip of their fingers. How?
Jordan Peterson, who is one of the most eloquent human beings I've ever seen speak, doesn't have his obsidian open when he needs to connect ideas, and I doubt he ever spends his time with say notion workflows to organize his writings. At the age of 20 something he wrote the incredibly dense Maps of Meaning, heavy on citations before any of these apps were out there.
So, how do these people do it?
The answer seems to be that they use almost no external system at all, but rely on their brain to naturally provide them with the necessary info when the time comes.
This is all very logical yet the Western school system's insistence on short-term test results cripples the natural learning processes one requires for true mastery and true greatness.
Extreme exposure and full immersion create the necessary connections. Passion for the subject, and personal development that results from the process of learning more about it. Full dedication. This is the only way to develop true skill.
Tech
VR is a peculiar technology. Its promises seem the most futuristic yet they are never completely fulfilled, although this might be about to change next year:
The complete immersion of one's self inside a simulated, self-contained environment with its own rules, escaping the outside world within.
In actuality, VR is just the dinosaur precursor to the kind of tech this would really be about, the sort Star Trek imagined with the holodeck and that now neuralink is developing, going directly to the stem.
No simulation engine can ever outperform the human brain.
Except this tech has always been here.
In their wisdom, the ancients cultivated special attention to dreams.
There is extensive evidence of absolute and complete control of dreams in many ancient cultures. Infinite possibility of simulation, "very nice graphics"(in fact the best possible graphics there can ever be, indistinguishable from the real) at least since there were people in Tibet practicing Yoga.
But instead of using it as a form of escapism and looking for instant gratification and low pleasures (which is by all intents and purposes the ultimate dream of the transhumanist), the ancients preferred to use the dream space for edifying spiritual purposes.
Wetware
For these reasons, I established the principle of the Primacy of Wetware, whereby all that the modern world provides that looks new and shiny is actually a worsened version of what can be accomplished with the development of discipline and traditional wisdom.
Wetware encompasses all that comes from the innate primal human experience, the brain, and the embodied experience of the human being.
Mere human digital technology is still very far from the structures nature developed over the Eras. Primal experience is dense, complex, and empirical.
It is all in the wisdom of the ancients.