John Adolphus Etzler

Engineer and Inventor

John Adolphus Etzler (1791– c. 1846) was a German engineer and inventor, renowned for his visionary, albeit ultimately unrealized, utopian projects. He emigrated to the United States in 1831, driven by a desire to create a society free from labor through the harnessing of natural forces. Etzler's 1833 publication, The Paradise within the Reach of all Men, detailed his plans to utilize wind, water, and solar energy to revolutionize human life, ideas far ahead of their time. He envisioned devices like the “Satellite” for automated agriculture and a wave-powered “Naval Automaton.” Despite securing patents and attracting followers, his attempts to establish utopian colonies in South America failed, leading to tragedy and his eventual disappearance. Etzler's focus on renewable energy and automation prefigures modern technological aspirations, marking him as a significant figure in utopian and technological history.

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1833

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The Paradise Within the Reach of All Men, Without Labour, by Powers of Nature and Machinery

An Address to All Intelligent Men

Etzler proposes a utopian vision of a world where all human needs can be met without any physical labor, through the use of natural powers and machinery. He argues that the current economic system is inefficient and unsustainable, and that a new system based on technology and renewable energy sources could provide a better life for all people. The book includes detailed descriptions of various machines and inventions that could make this utopia possible, such as a machine that could harness the power of the sun to create unlimited energy. Etzler also discusses the social and political implications of this new system, arguing that it would lead to greater equality and freedom for all people. A visionary work offering radical alternatives to the current economic and social order.

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Erik Davis

TechGnosis

How does our fascination with technology intersect with the religious imagination? While the realms of the digital and the spiritual may seem worlds apart, esoteric and religious impulses have in fact always permeated (and sometimes inspired) technological communication. Erik Davis uncovers startling connections between such seemingly disparate topics as electricity and alchemy; online role-playing games and religious and occult practices; virtual reality and gnostic mythology; programming languages and Kabbalah. The final chapters address the apocalyptic dreams that haunt technology, providing vital historical context as well as new ways to think about a future defined by the mutant intermingling of mind and machine, nightmare and fantasy.

The Library of Consciousness