A quote from my favourite thinker, Terence McKenna:
In a sense, computer code is magical language. It is language which when executed, causes something to actually happen.
The context here regards language as magic as exemplified by spells, incantations (and, one could argue, prayer). This was an accepted Western worldview prior to the Age of “Enlightenment” – the period circa 17th century where logic, rationality, reason and science attained primacy.
The interesting modern development, according to McKenna, is that with the advent of computers, we have come full circle on this topic and language as magic has effectively remerged in the form of computer code. Computer languages can now perform actions of almost unlimited variety and scope: via virtual reality, entire worlds can be conjured – or via computer-machine interfaces, the material world manipulated.
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