Davis does an interesting comparison between religion and technology while making connections to the wordings used in ancient (and not so ancient) scripts, which if taken into the right context can easily be related to Technology.

Much of this understanding comes from the Gnostic philosophy that discusses how humans are to “awake the spark” of knowledge in them, and once they gain this all understanding information, then they can essentially talk with God, or only then will they have a full understanding of God.  Now with this level of information, there came so much information that they would have to somehow organize and categorize all this information.  They used little diagrams to represent the items, or words, so that once you found the correct icon you could find all the information related to it.  This is a precursor to the icons that we use today on our computers.

These diagrams lead to Lull’s art form of wheels to represent the different areas of knowledge which became an interesting relation to mathematics.  This can also be said to be the origin of modern computers with its combinatorial features and system of gears which could be used to solve polynomial equations.

There is also a close link between memory and computers.  Yates said that there was a “spiritual link between Bruno’s memory system and the ‘mind machines’ discussed in the 1960s.  That is that artificial memory (much like we see in computers and cyberspace) is a place that catalogs knowledge, images, and experiences to be recalled when we need, much like human’s memory does.  This all ties into past descriptions on one’s memory, dating all the way back to medieval representations.  There is much connection between the imagery of memory, to how computers process their information and categorize and store it.  Another example, when we store information, we encode it in our minds, which is why it is often times that something will trigger a memory, it has touched upon the piece of information that we have used to encode it, to bring it back to the surface of our mind when we want it to resurface.  This is much how computers work, encoding information, so that it can easily be brought up when asked to be recalled.

Also part of this encoding, is that it can also be used to keep secrets.  For example we often using computers to either encode a piece of information, or to break codes.  When looking back into spell books you can actually use encryption keys to decipher that the books had a hidden message, not just the spells that were in there.  The other thing about these spell books is that there were spells to invoke entities who would create astral networks so that messages could be delivered anywhere within 24 hours.  This sounds quite like a premonition almost to our future e-mail programs.  It was also about gathering knowledge.  There is a constant reappearance of universal knowledge, and acquiring it all, which is what the Internet has become, a place where you can access knowledge on almost any topic.

The main point of this article is that the biggest goal has always seemed to be gnosis.  That is to have some divine knowledge, and a universal memory.  These ideas are seen over and over again throughout time and seem to lead the way to computers.  Computers give us access to knowledge on any topic, communication at our fingertips, and a way to categorize and store a seemingly endless amount of information.  Technology seems to be giving us this gnosis that many have aspired to gain over the years.