The modern world is a mesh of the organic and the synthetic. These elements are not opposites, but compliments. And those pagans that accept the spirit of Gaia and the spirit of Gibson are known as technopagans. They are alchemists AND physicists. They are priests of the glen AND priests of the parking lot. They are shamans of animal AND shamans of modem.
The purpose of any tool is to allow the wielder to do more than he or she could do without the tool. A tool is an extension of the wielder and serves as a focus of his or her will. Technology as a whole acts as lens to magnify both the power and the capability of humanity allowing a wider range of options and an increase ability to accomplish work. The ability to use and develop technology is an evolutionary change of similar magnitude to the development of animals to move about on dry land.
Such a change alters the nature of life and the diversity with which it can express itself on a fundamental level. The technological acts as an extension of the evolutionary process by extending the capability of life itself. The possibilities of life have increased through the development of technology, allowing humanity to interact in more powerful ways with its environment and thrive and diversify. That is point of life.
The concept that nature can be overcome or transcended is a critical flaw in the eyes of the technopagan. The irresponsible use of technology is akin to a cancer, an uncontrolled growth that destroys just as surely as any plague. As conscious beings, technopagans accept a responsibility over the consequences of the use of their tools because of their connection with the rest of nature and all of the individuals that comprise it.
Just as we have the capability to develop technology, we have the capability to develop aesthetics as well. While nature is a complex process of physical processes, the technopagan also sees nature as an elegant symphony of life in multi-facetted expression. Nature expresses itself in as subtle and sophisticated ways as any machine, formula or algorithm. As a human being, the technopagan cannot divorce him or herself from this artistic essence of life, nor does he or she wish to. Through technology, the aesthetic expression of humanity, and nature through humanity, can be diversified and extended. Thus the union of high tech and high touch extends life once again.
Technology a tool and, once again, reflects the nature of the wielder and creator as opposed to having any inherent morality. The technopagan argues that the concepts of morality, responsibility and aesthetics cannot be extracted from technology or science because these cannot be extracted from the human experience. Humanity cannot exist independent of either the ethical or the technological modes of life.
The Frankenstein Complex -- the concept that there are things "man was not meant to know" and that scientific and technological progress is inherently destructive -- blames the tool for the flaw of the user. The push to create better tools, to focus and extend the will of humanity, is a part of the evolutionary and spiritual make-up of humanity itself. The ever-increasing sophistication of machine requires an equivalent constant sophistication of spirit in order for us remain a balanced species. Making technology a scapegoat for the flaws of humanity simply enables us to avoid our responsibility to ourselves and to nature. This undermines the concept that humanity can and must develop as an ethical species. The acceptance of the Frankenstein Complex cripples the improvement of humanity through technological and moral means simultaneously. The technopagan rejects Frankenstein and accepts the responsibility of technology and the possibility contained therein.
The basis of scientific rigor is the repeated process of testing hypotheses against and modification in accordance with observable data. As our technological sophistication has improved, we have been able to extend our ability to perceive into things that aren't directly perceptible. Our continued progress into the scientific exploration has been built on progressive levels of separation from reality. Instead of directly observable phenomena, we observe the effects of the phenomena or, often, indirect indications of the effects of the phenomena. Science has become the educated pursuit of understanding and change through the examination and transition of imperceptible forces and events using arcane formulae and instruments with the assumption that what we have done before successfully will achieve a similar result. That fits exactly with the Crowlean definition of magic. To the technopagan, the difference is negligible.
The computer chip is the ideal symbol of Clarkean magic in practice. A standard processor chip can perform a hundred million operations in a single second - and yet none of it moves. Such a computer chip is an arcane device that creates change by the manipulation of subtle fundamental forces that are beyond our perception. The scientific application and rationale behind the use of these forces does not make the process any less magical - the fact that the processes are governed by seemingly arbitrary laws, can only be influenced sympathetically (that is, by affecting things that in turn affect the phenomena that we are attempting to modify), and we have to perform specific activities to create these effects with the tacit assumption that these rituals will work until the effect is observed are sufficient to qualify it as magic.
However, while it can do many things very quickly, the incredible flexibility and ability of a computer is ineffective without the insight and arrangement of the programmer. While the computer chip can perform these actions, it requires the intervention and symbiotic manipulation of the actions to create results that have meaning and coherent effect. A computer chip cannot create meaning or effect that humanity could not conceivably create or do itself. This symbiosis allows the extension of the will of the programmer (and by extension the user of the program), manipulating the meaning of these subtle operations so that they create a desired effect. Thus an arcane mechanism created by highly-trained individuals using obscure and inscrutable methods can create change under the direction of a human being, thus allowing that human being to extend their will through a device whose creation was a similar extension of will.
The technopagan perspective is that thaumaturgy and science are different branches of the same exercise - the exploration and extension of the nature of the universe. Both are valid methodologies and should be explored and applied as responsibly and intelligently as possible as extensions of our will.
A technopagan should actively support the intelligent and ethical development and application of technology. This not only means intelligent environmental causes such as recycling, reduction of toxic wastes and intelligent disposal thereof, but those technologies which can extend the ethical application of will and livelihood: life extension, space exploration, increased communication, medical technology and the like.
The advancement of humanisms and aesthetics must be actively promoted as well. The full range of human expression must be given the opportunity to thrive to allow for the increasing sophistication of the spirit and the mind. This includes the advancement of comparative religion and ethics, an increased drive to provide education to any individuals who desire it, the encouragement of artistic ventures of all types and the opportunity to interact with a spectrum of cultures and peoples. The technologies of these human facets of life must be applied and developed with the same intelligence and ethical vigor as any scientific or magickal endeavor.