Conrad Flynn on the Occult Roots of Tech and AI

TL;DR

Conrad Flynn, a writer from a Hollywood family, found that the same hardcore occult figures he researched for a rock-history show (Aleister Crowley, Nick Land) kept surfacing in Silicon Valley tech circles. He argues occult and new-age ideas, from astrology to manifesting, have become so mainstream that roughly 80% of Americans engage with them without recognizing their origins.

Transcript

I remember the first time somebody said to  me during an interview that something or   other was demonic. Used the word demonic. It  cannot have been more than six years ago and I was completely shocked that someone would  use that term because it's not a political   term. It doesn't even describe like any human  social interaction. It's a spiritua... Read More

Key Insights

• The word 'demonic' has shifted from a purely spiritual term into common usage for describing social and political developments, reflecting a growing sense that a spiritual war underlies American society and world events.
• Conrad Flynn's entry point into the occult was a rock-history show, 'Running with the Devil,' exploring topics like Jimmy Page's interest in Aleister Crowley and Crowley's appearance on Beatles album art.
• The same hardcore occult influences Flynn researched for the rock show, including figures like Nick Land, kept reappearing in Silicon Valley, suggesting tech elites share interests with 1980s industrial, goth, and psychedelic occultists.
• Silicon Valley is popularly imagined as secular and rationalist, yet Flynn found some tech figures drawn to Aleister Crowley cults and the same esoteric material as occultists like Kenneth Grant and William S. Burroughs.
• There is a distinction between people who unknowingly participate in occult-adjacent practices and a self-aware category who deliberately seek power from supernatural forces they acknowledge are real.
• The term 'cult' technically means 'the hidden,' and broadened out it can describe interest in new age ideas like astrology and manifesting, which Flynn says accounts for about 80% of Americans.
• New-age and occult thinking is not confined to the left; Flynn notes it is also huge on the right, pointing to the 'Make America Healthy Again' movement as an example.
• New-age ideas trace back through 18th and 19th century America but exploded since the 1960s, becoming so ingrained in daily life that people no longer notice their origins or see them as a cult.

Questions & Answers

Q: Are there real occult connections to Hollywood, tech, and political figures?

According to Conrad Flynn, yes, and it is as weird as it sounds. He describes discovering that some people who help shape culture or build technology are literally practicing occult or cult religion. While researching a rock-and-occult show, he repeatedly heard that the same esoteric material was circulating in Silicon Valley, including references to Aleister Crowley cults and figures whose influences matched hardcore 1980s occultists.

Q: How did Conrad Flynn get into researching the occult?

Flynn came to it through entertainment rather than theology, calling himself at most an amateur. Coming from a Hollywood family, he had a long-standing casual interest in rock and the occult and developed a show called 'Running with the Devil' around 2022. Deep research for that project, covering figures like Aleister Crowley and Jimmy Page, gave him detailed knowledge that he later realized overlapped with what was happening in tech.

Q: What is the difference between unconscious and self-aware occult practice?

Flynn and Tucker Carlson draw a dividing line. One category is people participating in occult-adjacent practices without understanding the spiritual consequences, doing things because they are fun, interesting, or common around them. The other category consists of people who deliberately seek power from supernatural forces they acknowledge are absolutely real, practicing an occult religion with full self-awareness. Flynn says this second group is larger than he once assumed.

Q: What does the word 'cult' actually mean?

In the discussion, 'cult' is described as technically meaning 'the hidden.' It is noted as a big, broad term. One definition, from authors who ran a cult bookstore in 1970s New York and wrote a book referenced as 'Bull from Heaven,' tied it to new-age and neopagan thinking. Broadened out, a cult can simply mean interest in new-age ideas, which the conversation estimates applies to around 80% of Americans.

Q: Why are Silicon Valley elites interested in the occult?

Flynn found it surprising because Silicon Valley elites are usually imagined as secularists and rationalists with a 'no religion for me' attitude. Yet while researching his show, tech contacts kept telling him about weird occult activity there, including Aleister Crowley cults. He noted that a figure named Nick Land, described as huge in Silicon Valley, had influences identical to the hardcore industrial, goth, and psychedelic occult figures he was already studying.

Q: How has new-age thinking become mainstream in America?

The conversation argues new-age ideas like astrology, manifesting, and the law of attraction are huge and account for roughly 80% of Americans. These ideas trace back to 18th and 19th century America but exploded since the 1960s. They have become so ingrained in everyday life that people typically do not notice their origins or recognize them as a cult, viewing them as ordinary rather than occult.

Q: Is occult and new-age interest limited to the political left?

No. Flynn explicitly says these ideas are not confined to one side. He points out that new-age thinking is also huge on the right, citing the 'Make America Healthy Again' movement as an example. Concepts like manifesting and wellness that people do not think of as goth, occult, or out of the mainstream have become incredibly mainstreamed across the political spectrum over recent decades.

Q: What role did Flynn's Hollywood upbringing play in his perspective?

Flynn is the grandson of actor Robert Conrad, known for Wild Wild West, Black Sheep Squadron, and Hawaiian Eye, and of publicist Harry Flynn, who worked on shows like The Monkees, Bewitched, and I Dream of Jeannie. Growing up around media, he learned early that the polished public version of reality is a facade and that things are not what they seem, which fueled his drive to understand how culture really works.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Conrad Flynn, grandson of actor Robert Conrad and publicist Harry Flynn, grew up in a Hollywood family learning that the 'People magazine version of reality' is a facade. This early skepticism drove a curiosity about how show business and culture actually work beneath the presented surface.

• After a wholesome show about actors' origins collapsed when its buyer BuzzFeed went out of business, Flynn pursued a dream project on rock and the occult called 'Running with the Devil,' bringing in rock critics Steven Thomas Erlewine and Ned Raggett and Osbournes creators Sue Kolinsky and Craig Johnson.

• While pitching the show, tech and Silicon Valley contacts kept describing the same occult material Flynn was researching, from Aleister Crowley cults to Nick Land. He and Tucker Carlson discuss how new-age and occult ideas, embraced across the political spectrum, have become mainstream since the 1960s.