The Computer and the Incarnation of Ahriman

The Computer and the Incarnation of Ahriman

In The Computer and the Incarnation of Ahriman, David B. Black explores the spiritual implications of modern computing through the lens of Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophical cosmology.

Written in the early years of the digital age, this concise but penetrating study asks whether the computer is merely a neutral technological tool — or whether it represents something deeper within the evolution of consciousness and materialism. Black investigates the being known in Anthroposophy as Ahriman, whose influence is associated with intellectual abstraction, mechanization, and the hardening of spiritual life into purely material forms.

Drawing on historical, macrocosmic, and philosophical perspectives, the author attempts to clarify the precise relationship between the rise of computing technology and the anticipated incarnation of Ahriman described in Steiner’s work.

This booklet is especially relevant today, as digital technology increasingly shapes culture, perception, and human identity.

“It took me a long time to see what relevance such a seemingly abstract and religious concept could have to the manifest realities of electronic technology. The key point in seeing the relevance is to recognize that the division we make between religion and science is a false one, and that the subject matter of both religion and science suffer because, for example, we do not know how to be rational and observant about perfectly objective phenomena which we categorize as religious. As soon as we actively investigate such a subject as the relation between a spiritual being and electronic technology, or even just attempt to penetrate to the core of the technology while leaving none of the facts out of account, it is possible to learn how to be scientific and objective about a wider range of phenomena than is generally thought open to such investigation. This research leads to such results as are described in the later sections of this book, in which I will attempt to make clear the exact nature of the relation between the computer and the being of Ahriman” -from the Introduction

Topics Discussed:

• Methodology
• Defense of the Methodology
• Material and Spiritual Logic
• Premises of the History/Demonstration History of the Incarnation in its Macrocosmic Aspect
• From the Beginning of Time to the End

About the Author

David B. Black started programming in high school, had written software for oil industry optimization and early ARPAnet operation by the time he graduated from Harvard in 1972, then went on to write software in multiple industries while studying the works of Rudolf Steiner and participating in Anthroposophical activities. This 1981 book is the result of his years of experiencing computers from the “inside,” along with his esoteric, historical and mathematical studies. In the 1990’s he started in venture capital and now concentrates on health care and financial technology investments.