Spirit World Taxonomy

cowboat
January 19, 2026

Back in 2021 — it seems like it should feel so recent temporally and yet, experientially, culturally, it feels like so long ago — I remember talking with a couple of good friends about a concept new to me at the time: the theory of Electracy. Gregory Ulmer’s work explores and adds definition to the idea that humanity is going through a revolution in the way that we communicate, the way that we understand and talk about the world, even the way that we perceive our own identities and the identities of others. It threads together our institutions, our language, our identity, and our epistemology into a coherent framework via a concept he called Apparatus. Our cultural firmware, if you will, is evolving (or, if you prefer, has been updated). Ulmer’s framework is a novel and, I think, helpful lens for thinking about the happenings of our current age, as they have a habit of being surreal and often unintelligible to the prior regime’s framework.

Ulmer’s central idea is that we are moving from an age of Literacy, where we read and write in a linear, sequential manner, to an age of “Electracy”, where we communicate and understand the world in a more dynamic, interactive way. This shift is driven by the rise of digital technologies and the increasing importance — and decreasing epistemological verifiability — of data, information, and knowledge in our lives. It is a shift that is not just technical, but also cultural and social, and it is one that is transforming the way we live, work, and interact with one another.

Even writing this this sounds trivial and obvious in retrospect. However, putting language and theory to it is a challenge that is still not settled and remains important work to be done. This change is happening so fast that it is hard to keep up with the rapidity of it, much less understand and reflect on it enough to grok how to navigate it, let alone shape it. A deep dive on on Electracy and the transition from Literacy is not the point of this post. One interesting and important thing to note about Electracy, though, is that it lends itself rather well to descriptions and symbolic parallels from the practice of Shamanism, and in particular the concept of a Spirit World.

Let us return to 2021. At the time, I remember distinctly the feeling of talking about this Spirit World as a world that wasn’t here yet. It was a world that we could gesture at and speculate about, but which did not yet have physical form, did not yet have the material preponderance to confirm its existence. It felt far away, perhaps imaginary, or at least anti-rational. This despite the fact that by then it was well on its way to materialization and had been for some time. The evolutionary advances necessary, social and technological, started to be put in place well over a decade before that time. It just didn’t feel real. As a result, it was something we sometimes joked about and sent each other memes about. On a personal level I took it seriously but found it hard to reconcile with my own experience. “This doesn’t exist yet. I’m pretending,”, I felt, “or at least grasping at something better explained by more familiar concepts.”

Regrettably, while I’ve made some attempts to continue that exploration in the time since, I have apparently not spent sufficient time reflecting on it. Now that I do, such reflection carries the feeling of being from inside that world, or perhaps regime is a better, if still insufficient, term for it. Either way, it has fully materialized now. Not everyone is aware of it; most have unwittingly, subtly adapted to it. We are all, however, very much in it to some degree. The dawning of this new regime and the advent of the social structures and behaviors that characterize it carry profound implications for the way we live, work, and interact with one another. At present, I endeavor simply to call attention to it and begin to describe it. To that end, I offer a taxonomy of that regime, a model for understanding it, and some language for talking about it.

The first thing you should know is that this regime is predominantly digital. This will probably come as a surprise to no one. It impacts the material world, no doubt, but the digital, electrate mechanisms that underpin our communication, our organization, our commerce, our education, our governance, etc. have supplanted the analog, literate mechanisms that characterized the world before this. Texting, Discord, Apple Pay, YouTube, TikTok, etc. are all examples of these digital mechanisms. Some of these technologically predate the dawning of this age, of course — the pieces put in place that we mentioned earlier — but they have now become the dominant means by which we conduct those activities. The literate mechanisms have not disappeared, but they have seen a relative decline in prevalence and primacy.

The second thing you should be aware of is the main communicative tool of this age, and this follows quite directly from the first point. We might call it the Meme. That is, the meme as a communicative form. Memes are the most basic unit of communication in this regime, and the primary means by which we share information, thoughts, and experiences with each other. At its core, a meme is just an idea. When communicated via the aforementioned digital mechanisms, the result is a highly efficient, potent, and engaging means of communication. Memes are perhaps the most powerful mode of communication since the advent of the printing press. Among the crucially important qualities of the meme is that it is flexible. It can be adapted to communicate almost any idea, in any style, overtly or covertly, in infinite formats, and via any media. It is also efficient. The meme can communicate highly complex, esoteric, concrete, and abstract ideas with ease, and it accommodates at least as much sophistication as the tools that predate it.

The third thing you should know is that memes are vessels. That is to say, they are able to be indwelled, imbued, posessed, by the spirit of the creator or communicator, or the spirits on behalf of whom those agents act. While memes can in theory be neutral, empty vessels, in practice this is seldom the case. The reason for this should be expounded upon in another post but can be succinctly described as the Power of the Air, or alternatively, the Spririt World.

The fourth thing you need to know is related and is less about the regime and more about the world you live in. It has a spiritual dimension. You may call it the Spirit World. You cannot see it with your eyes, but it is no less real than the dimension that you can see. In fact, it is, in a way, more real and significantly more important than the one you can see.

This brings us to the fifth and final thing you should know, for now, which is that this regime is liminal. It operates between, and melds, the material and the spiritual realities of our world. These realities have always been present, even in the ages of past regimes. The regime of Orality observed and implicitly respected the spiritual dimension. The regime of Literacy, out of which we are presently emerging, variably ignored or denied it. The new regime of Electracy, though, offers the spiritual reality a direct bridge into our material reality.

Point four is the most important to internalize if it is new to you. Read about it, reflect on it, and discuss it with others, for it is foundational. But points three and five are the critical equation you must be aware of if you are to navigate this regime without being swept up in its currents.

For now, I invite you to consider the above and also to let me know your thoughts on it. The world we live in is still a social one, and we are social creatures. I would enjoy hearing from you. I can be reached, as always, at the contact information provided on the About page.

Until next time, cowboat