What if the world you experience is not reality itself, but a biologically constructed interface designed for survival rather than truth? In this episode, we explore the cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman’s The Case Against Reality and his Interface Theory of Perception, examining the provocative claim that evolution did not shape our senses to reveal the structure of the world as it is in itself.

Drawing on evolutionary game theory, perceptual psychology, and philosophy of mind, Hoffman argues that space, time, and physical objects may function more like icons on a desktop than features of mind-independent reality. We unpack the “Fitness Beats Truth” theorem, assess the move from perceptual scepticism to ontological idealism, and situate Hoffman’s position in dialogue with Kant’s critical philosophy and contemporary debates about consciousness.

Crucially, we then turn to the implications for esoteric and magical practice. If ordinary perception is already an adaptive interface, what happens to the dismissal of altered states as merely subjective distortions? Does Hoffman’s framework open conceptual space for ritual, trance, and visionary experience, or does it simply reframe them as alternative adaptive constructions? And can evolutionary models themselves escape the circularity they seem to invite?

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What is shadow work, really? Is it therapy, initiation, political reclamation, or a commodified self-help trend?

In this video, we trace the concept of the shadow from Carl Jung’s analytical psychology to its transformation within Western esotericism, ceremonial magic, Wicca, feminist spirituality, and Left-Hand Path traditions. Along the way, we explore how shadow work shifted from a clinical method of psychological integration to an initiatory ordeal, a ritual technology, a feminist act of reclamation, and finally a digital wellness commodity.

Drawing on Jung’s theory of projection and individuation, the esoteric reinterpretations of figures such as Dion Fortune and Israel Regardie, the initiatory logic of Thelema, and contemporary critiques of online “shadow work” culture, this episode asks a difficult question: what happens when a psychological concept becomes spiritual practice and then becomes product?

If shadow work promises wholeness, what kind of wholeness is being offered and at what cost?

This is a critical, historically grounded exploration of one of the most popular and most misunderstood ideas in contemporary spirituality.

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Join us live for a conversation with Dr Shira Chess on the hidden entanglements between digital culture and the occult, inspired by her new book The Unseen Internet: Conjuring the Occult in Digital Discourse.

From AI “demons” like Loab to meme magic, technopaganism, simulation theory, and the ritual logics of online life, Chess argues that the internet has always been shaped by esoteric frameworks. Drawing on media history and contemporary case studies, she shows how magical thinking is not an accidental metaphor but part of the architecture of digital discourse.

In this livestream, we will explore how belief, intention, and symbolic practice intersect with algorithms, platforms, and artificial intelligence, and what this means for politics, reality, and power in the twenty-first century. Bring your questions for what promises to be a sharp and thought-provoking discussion.

Shira Chess is an Associate Professor of Entertainment and Media Studies at the University of Georgia. She received her PhD in 2009 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and studies digital culture and video games. Her most recent book, The Unseen Internet: Conjuring the Occult in Digital Discourse (The MIT Press, 2026) is available now. She is also currently co-authoring a history of the 90s counterculture tech magazine Mondo 2000 alongside the magazine's former editor-in-chief, R.U. Sirius. You can subscribe to her free Substack at https://unseeninternet.substack.com/.

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