4S Call for Abstracts: Techno-Magical Futures & Histories

[Leona Nikolic]

Hi everyone,

I’d like to warmly invite scholars to submit paper abstracts to an open panel I’m organising at 4S 2026 (7-10 October in Toronto): Techno-Magical Futures & Histories (Panel #245). 

The panel explores:

• the historical, material, and socio-cultural dimensions of the relationship between magic and technology
• efforts by Silicon Valley to position AI technologies as omniscient, god-like entities with supernatural capabilities
• intersections between magic and computation; magic and technoscience
• discussions including techno-magical discourses, sociotechnical imaginaries, material practices, hegemonic order, policy and regulation

Scholars across various fields and disciplines are welcome to submit a 250-word abstract. The deadline is 30 April.

Please see a detailed call below or at this link.

And please share with any colleagues who would be interested.

See you in Toronto!

Leona Nikolić

Techno-Magical Futures & Histories

There has been an effort by Silicon Valley to position AI technologies as omniscient, god-like entities with supernatural capabilities. In late 2023, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that his company’s primary mission was to create “magic intelligence in the sky” (Murgia, 2023, para. 8). Big Tech giant Google introduced overtly magical and astrological branding for its recent AI products: Genie, Gemini, and Project Astra (Hassabis, 2024; Marini, 2024). Scholars have made analogies between AI and magic or divination (Boxer, 2020; Larsson & Viktorelius, 2024; Marenko, 2019), examined magical discourse in the tech industry (Campolo & Crawford, 2020; Zhan, 2025), and explored historical relations between magic and technoscience (Hörl, 2018; Josephson-Storm, 2017; Natale, 2021).

This intersection between magic and computation is not new; we can recall software ‘wizards’ of the 1990s, background computer programmes known as ‘daemons,’ and the mystically named Oracle coding software, for example. Moreover, there is a longstanding theoretical discourse on the relationship between magic and technology (Daston & Park, 1998; Dreyfus, 1965; Horkheimer & Adorno, 1947; Latour, 1988; Lévi-Strauss, 1962; Simondon, 1958; Stengers, 2000; Weber, 1920; Wiener, 1964).

This panel invites researchers to consider these recent and historical interdependencies, especially in the face of contemporary techno-oligarchies. How does ‘techno-magical’ discourse shape sociotechnical imaginaries and material practices of AI? What is the relationship between technologies and the myths that they uphold? Which kinds of futures does technomagical discourse produce and how do these futures maintain or disrupt hegemonic societal order, social cohesion, and collective realities? Which theoretical perspectives can help us understand the relationship between magic, technoscience, and technopower? And how can such research contribute to policy discussions and regulatory approaches regarding questions about transparency and accountability in algorithmic decision-making?

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Leona Nikolić | She/Her 

PhD Candidate, Department of Communication Studies | Concordia University

Montréal, Canada | Tio'tiá:ke

2025 Doctoral Intern @ the Social Media Collective 

Recent Publications

Book Review: Deceitful Media: Artificial Intelligence and Social Life after the Turing Test

An astrological genealogy of artificial intelligence: From ‘pseudo-sciences’ of divination to sciences of prediction