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I recently finished reading The Creativity Code by Marcus Du Sautoy (Affiliate link). What really fascinated me about this book was the in depth exploration of algorithms, which essentially are code that is used to predict behavior. A basic example of this can include visiting a website and then later seeing an ad for that site on your Facebook. When you visit a site, if that site has a Facebook pixel, then when you are on Facebook, you get ads from that site because by visiting that site you’ve indicated interest in what is on that site. Amazon employs algorithms on its site for similar purposes, using your behavior to predict what you are likely to buy.
You’re probably wondering what if anything this has to do with magic. Reading that book and learning more about algorithms got me to thinking about how you might design a magical working to be self-improving or to be behavior based, depending on what you or the focus of the magical working did. In general I treat my magical workings like programming code, because I don’t see a magical working as just a strict execution of the working, but rather as an organic, evolving working that can change, depending on the variables that come into play. Applying an algorithmic perspective could take this even further.
What I envision is building a self-improvement or adaptability code into the magical working so that when you execute the magical working it automatically starts picking up relevant information and adapting the working to that information. So for example you do a magical working to generate some wealth in your life and as the working occurs and the magic is activated it starts picking up relevant information and adding that to its execution and then making changes to the working and manifestation of the results accordingly. It’s actually a lot like how I program magical entities, where the entity is designed to adapt to circumstances and behaviors, but in this case its being applied to any magical working.
Of course there is the other side of this to consider. What if the magical working adapts in a way you don’t want or manifests a result you weren’t looking for, even though the result may apply to some of what you want. The very nature of an algorithm is that it picks up on information you may not even consciously recognize as relevant and if you apply this same standard to your magical work it can create a similar experience. An algorithm is intended to evolve as a result of the behavior and interaction of the subjects and the same would apply with a magical working, but the evolution can occur in ways that may not be full anticipated or planned for. When you adapt a practice from one discipline to another discipline, you necessarily need to consider the full ramifications of what you are adapting and what that might look like.
The other question to consider is whether or not you could take an algorithm on a site such as Facebook and use it for your own purposes. One thought that comes to mind is creating an ad on a social media site which points people to something you want them to get, but also includes some type of magical working that is designed to work with the algorithm to accomplish something, so that every time a person sees the ad or interacts with it, the magical working is charged and or fired because of the interaction with the algorithm.
For the moment these are just rough ideas inspired by what I read in the book, but it’s novel to explore and consider how to apply something like an algorithm to magical workings, as well as to consider what the potential downsides could be. By entertaining such ideas, it keeps the magician sharp, and also allows them to see where the intersection between modern technology and magic can come together.
