Sohrawardi

In this course

Sohrawardi appears to be a mid-to-late twentieth-century figure who bridged computational research (IBM work) with psychonautic exploration and esoteric spirituality, moving between institutional technology and countercultural sites like Millbrook. The course readings invoke him as an example of how quantum speculation and oriental mysticism became entangled with early psychedelic research and potentially classified consciousness studies, representing the ambiguous overlap between serious scientific inquiry and speculative occultism that characterizes the period. His scattered documentation—early papers and New Age cover materials—suggests a figure whose actual accomplishments remain partly obscured or contested, making him useful for examining how alternative epistemologies circulated through both technology sectors and spiritual networks during the Cold War era.

Mentioned in 1 reading