Episode
Heaven and the Machine: Digital Objects, Time Loops, and the Cyber-Occult [Cause Before Symptom /w Urban, May 12th, 2026]
- Podcast
- Urban Odyssey
- Published
- May 13, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 5634
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Summary
View the Full Article & Additional Links on the Substack Post : https://theofficialurban.substack.com/p/heaven-and-the-machine Urban covers James Carner's show 'Cause Before Symptom' over the next few days while James is on vacation. Tonight we discuss Digital Objects, Gothic Materialism / Flatlines & Recursive Loops. In this special episode of "Cause Before Symptom," guest host Urban dives deep into the intersection of technology, ancient mythology, and modern philosophy. We explore how the "real world" is being replaced by digital models and what this means for our human future. Key Topics Explored: The Ontology of Digital Objects: How metadata and schemas define a new kind of "thinghood" that reshapes our reality. Templexity & Time Loops: A look at Nick Land’s theory on how modern cities function as time machines, where the future reaches back to script the present. Hyperstition & Gothic Materialism: Exploring the dark side of digital culture, where fictions make themselves real and history feels like a pre-scripted horror story. Cosmotechnics: Yuk Hui's framework for reuniting the cosmic order with technical activity to survive the Anthropocene. The WEF & Techno-Fascism: A critical look at the "own nothing and be happy" agenda and the dehumanizing nature of the global technological hegemony. Neuro-Technology at Davos: Analyzing real-world brain-decoding tech and the potential for a "Fitbit for your brain" that monitors your every thought. Is the road to a digital utopia actually paved with the bricks of cognitive dissonance? Join us as we scratch the surface of the connection between the technological and the spiritual.