Guest Expert, 'Magic', The Digital Human (BBC Radio 4)

In 2015, I was a guest on BBC Radio 4’s The Digital Human episode on Magic (S7, EP2), in which Aleks Krotoski explored whether Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law law, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", is applicable to the modern digital world.

From people living under the 'curse' of electro-sensitivity to the rituals we all go through to ward off evil spirits like updating our anti-virus software, Krotoski spoke to people teaching the language of magic to technologists. Through this programme, she asks in a world of install wizards and demon programmes why is the vocabulary of magic so powerful and what does that mean for our understanding of how our technology works?

As a guest on the show, I spoke about the historical relationship between magic and technology, from Spiritualist practices of the nineteenth century through to how contemporary technologist embody visual and spoken language that remediates the work of nineteenth century magicians.