Unicorns, Forgetting, and Algorithmic Histories

In this opening episode of Restless Grounds, we dive into the entangled histories of magic, technology, and capital. Our conversation explores how belief systems—from Enlightenment science to tarot, commodity fetishism to algorithmic “intelligence”—shape not only how we relate to technology, but how technologies are designed to relate to us. Host Mariana Fernández Mora is joined by Flavia Dzodan, Zachary Formwalt, and Carlo De Gaetano to think through magical thinking as both a historical foundation for Western science and a critical tool for deconstructing algorithmic systems today. Together, they ask: What does forgetting have to do with AI? What makes a dataset “magical”? What does a unicorn fossil tell us about the myth of objectivity? From tarot cards to financial systems, from emotional agents to algorithmic affect, this episode weaves together personal histories, critical theory, and artistic practice to confront the social, historical, and material dimensions of artificial intelligence and how AI systems reflect and obscure our histories. The soundscapes in this episode are courtesy of artist and researcher Angelo Custódio and were produced during the Material Playground he hosted, titled “Everything Evaporates.”