Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian Philosopher who was considered a prophet back in the 60’s. His claims were based on trends that he saw happening on the technological front around the time where television was widely adopted. McLuhan’s predictions brought him into the spotlight and 50 years later his predictions are becoming confirmed. His biggest notion is that “the medium is the message” and is where I will begin. The medium is the message refers to the fact that technology changes the environment we inhabit, which then changes our behaviour. Medium, or media, is just another word for technology. The phrase, the medium is the message, can be easily explained by another phrase stated by the famous psychologist Maslow who said “if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Although, we would like to think that our tools are neutral I feel that Maslow’s phrase shows that they aren’t. Maslow’s hammer is morally neutral. I choose to use it for destructive or constructive purposes. But, the impulse, or itch, to find nails originates from the hammer reshaping my perception. Marshall McLuhan adds a poem to help capture this notion. In modern thought, (if not in fact) Nothing is that doesn’t act, So that is reckoned wisdom which Describes the scratch but not the itch - Anonymous (p. 10) The above poem is a description of our cultural tendency to focus on the scratch, or reaction, rather than the itch, or the cause, especially when it comes to technology. All technology I use shapes my behaviour in one way or another. Beyond the medium is the message (I will expand on it more in later articles) is the notion that technology is an extension of ourselves. He argues this because technology can only add itself on to what we already are (p. 11). The logic of technology is to increase the speed and/or power of our physical and/or nervous systems. To explain this let’s come back to hammer. I will ask you to envision the hammer as an extension of your closed fist. The hammer has more power to put nails into structures and as a result increases the speed to which you can nail things. Therefore, the hammer is an extension of your fist that increases its power and speed. So a quick recap. We now understand that the phrase “the medium is the message” describes a notion that technology shapes behaviour. Technology is also an extension of some part of ourselves. I used the metaphor of a hammer as an extension of a closed fist as it’s proven the best way to explain McLuhan’s logic to my friends in conversation. In later articles I will be expanding this from the individual to the collective level by going into mass media, or mass technology, that is adopted widely and quickly by society. By doing so I hope to highlight trends while expanding awareness on how technology shapes our collective behaviour. Marshall McLuhan: Medium is the message Part 2 Marshall McLuhan - Understanding Media: The extensions of man
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8/9/2018 05:51:54 am
Marshall Mcluhan really hit the nail on the head when he said, "the medium is the message." Technology has had a great impact on our live's. Whether it be negative or positive, technology has become an extension of the human being. We can not go anywhere and not see at least some form of technology. We have it in our homes, workplace and in most of the places we go to. It is clear that technology has a strong grip on society.
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Robin GagneWhat is technology? Marshall Mcluhan answers that question with a pithy saying that "the medium is the message." His philosophical understanding of technology is that they are the extensions of man. In the following series on Marshall McLuhan I use a hammer as a simple analogy to explain why the medium is the message. ArchivesCategories |
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