Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 95 No. 5, 2025.
Pregledni rad
https://doi.org/10.53745/bs.95.5.7
Cybergnosis: Digital Transcendence and the New Quest for Sacred Knowledge
Mikolaj Martinjak
orcid.org/0000-0002-3982-5304
; Fakultet filozofije i religijskih znanosti Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
This article presents Gnosticism as a universal human aspiration toward transcendent knowledge rather than a historically bounded religious phenomenon or school of thought. From this perspective, the article examines how ancient patterns of knowledgeseeking manifest in contemporary digital environments. The concept of »cybergnosis« is introduced to describe the interaction between traditional wisdomseeking behaviours and digital technologies. Through an analysis that spans early heresiological sources and contemporary scholarship–including the works of Michael Williams and Karen King–alongside examinations of cybertheory from William Gibson to current transhumanist movements, this study reveals a compelling paradox. While modern digital mind uploading projects and dreams of virtual reality may superficially resemble Gnostic aspirations for liberation from physical constraints, they instead constitute an inversion of authentic gnosis. Whereas Valentinus taught in Fragment H that the Son’s revelation purifies the heart so that ‘blessed is the one who has such a heart, for they shall see God’ (Valentinus, Fragment H; Clement, Strom. 2.114.6), linking self-knowledge directly to divine vision, contemporary »cybergnostics« pursue technological escape as a form of utility. The article concludes that cybergnosticism represents not the fulfilment but the displacement of genuine gnosis, as humanity’s pursuit of transformation becomes diminished through digital simulations that emulate rather than achieve true enlightenment.
Ključne riječi
gnosticism; cyberspace; mind upload; transcendence; knowledge; escapism
Hrčak ID:
346353
URI
Datum izdavanja:
16.4.2026.
Posjeta: 846 *