A PhD in Magic - Polymath vibes
- Peter Duchemin, Phd
- Nov 5, 2025
- 1 min read
It's true - I was awarded the doctorate in 2019 for this thesis (you can read it!)
Anyways the whole thing was a whirlwind: it took me 10 years to write. I think that as with all PhD work, it became kind of a battery: it is my definitive statement on magic? Hardly - but is it important? Definitely.
In a nutshell I decided to tackle the problem of a universal definition of magic - and I failed - but I failed really well, and in the process invented a system of magical calendars, a method for remote viewing the galaxy like a mentat, and a form of time/space notation that bucks linear thinking. I also wrote an account of the origins of computer science in mystical philosophy, gave a portrayal of the media as a magician's theatre, intuited the Kabbalistic doctrine of "TzimTzum" to be a universal account of how we relate to nouns, and in general doled out a lot of short, punchy little micro-essays that I imagined to be "tubers" of thought: basically all of which I am still growing (and then some)
And look: I got media coverage!
All in all, I think I did a good job of anticipating the flurry of magical enthusiasm that was to mark the next half decade. What do you think?
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