From Dao to Data: Spiritual Alienation in Samit Basu's Chosen Spirits

Abstract

        This paper is a critical reading of Chosen Spirits (2020) written by Samit Basu with the aim of analysing the juxtaposition of ancient Daoist thought of cosmic harmony with the modern paradigm of digital alienation. The novel portrays a condition of spiritual dislocation created by algorithmic control in contrast to the Daoist concept of the organic and uninterrupted flow of human existence. The hyperrealist world of the novel projects a highly mediated and commodified day-to-day life where everything is quantified by the networks of surveillance. The text is a specimen of South Asian cyberpunk which portrays a speculative near-future Delhi that is a technologically saturated dystopia. The theory of surveillance capitalism put forward by Shoshana Zuboff and the formulation of digital psychopolitics by Byung-Chul Han are employed as theoretical frameworks for the study.

         Augrels are the institutionalized augmented religions in the narrative. The notion of “The Years Not to Be Discussed” stands for the digitally manipulated erasure of collective historical memory. This is a clear demonstration of how the internal conscience of the human subject is systematically erased, denying existential agency as well. Basu presents frugal or makeshift innovation and grassroots solidarity of human beings, though on a small scale, as possible localized versions of ontological resistance against the tyrannical coercions of the data economy.