McLuhan Predicts Cellphone: New Yorker magazine, May 5, 1965

Marshall McLuhan’s prominence in the Sixties and early Seventies cannot easily be conceived from the remove of the present day.  The New Yorker magazine issue, May 5, 1965 features “The McLuhan Metaphor,” in the “The Talk of the Town” section. The piece was composed at the same time as the  the New York World’s Fair. 

The New Yorker journalist suggests Marshall McLuhan might be better employed as the Time Capsule for the era rather than using “cultural and technological mementos of twentieth-century man.” McLuhan actually taught us more about what was about to happen in the 21^stcentury.

My family visited the World’s Fair that year. I recall Ford and General Motors lavish futuristic exhibits. The two giant car manufacturers reflect the the mechanical age. —The exhibits imagined an automotive future with Jetsons-esque highways flying in every direction. The dioramas didn't portray gridlock, but you don't focus on the negative at a World's Fair exhibit. But McLuhan envisioned something different, an information age—and a massive change in consciousness.

The New Yorkerauthor describes McLuhan’s lecture at Spencer Memorial Church in Brooklyn and quotes several startling prophecies included in his remarks: 

“(He) predicted a happy day when everyone will have his own portable computer to cope with the dreary business of digesting information” and

“Dr. McLuhan next suggested the possibility of a new technology that would extend consciousness itself into the environment. ‘A kind of computerized ESP,’ he called it, envisioning ‘consciousness as the corporate content of the environment—and eventually maybe even a small portable computer, about the size of a hearing aid, that would process our private experience through the corporate experience, the way dreams do now.’”

McLuhan’s accurately prediction computers the size of cellphones or smaller. Marshall gets points for the accuracy of that alone, but the second insight--consciousness as the new environment-- cuts to the very essence of the present digital era.  McLuhan’s hearing aid- size device anticipates the iPhone pretty closely. Individuals study the phone and share experiences as a corporate entity creating a group consciousness. The posts are exactly as McLuhan described, personal, random thoughts offered in a dreamlike manner. McLuhan perceived the new electronic environment as consciousness— and no better description exists of the modern social network. 

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The 1965 The New Yorkerwriter notes McLuhan entered the scene as an author, “by three startling books on Western civilization-- The Mechanical Bride, The Gutenberg Galaxy, and most recently Understanding Media, in which he joyfully explores the tribal virtues of popular culture, casts a cynical eye on the ‘classification traditions’ that came in with print and sees near-mythic possibilities in our computer age.” (The New Yorker 1965)

Mcluhan’sUnderstanding Media  examines a different medium in every chapter and chapter 31, titled “Television,” commented on television’s highly participatory nature as a “cool medium.” Television’s language contrasted to “hot media” like print or movies with their tendency for “’spelling out’ of meanings.” (UM 319) Television’s message, conveyed in low density, left much room for participation of the viewer. 

He identified participation as a key differentiating factor between the print media and the electronic media. Print media, based on the visual sense, allowed for detachment and objectivity. Television shifted the audience to a multi-sensory experience, emphasizing the tactile and acoustic, and lead to in-depth engagement.

“Because the low definition of TV insures a high degree of audience involvement, the most effective programs are those that present situations which consist of some process to be completed.” (UM 319)

McLuhan’s predictions for deepened audience engagement following the shift from print media to electronic media cannot be overstated as essential to understanding the electronic environment. The inability of individuals to separate from the social network becomes more apparent by the day. As McLuhan somehow knew-- we have become enslaved.  FOMO or “fear of missing out” is society's most prevalent psychological addiction in 2018.

McLuhan’s notion of new technology working as extensions of the human body had achieved new levels of traction in the electronic era, for if clothing extended the skin, and the wheel extended the legs’ ability to achieve movement, “the computer achieved not merely an extension of our eyes, like print, but an extension of our whole nervous system.”  (New Yorker1965)

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Wired magazine: the new FOMO (missing the news!)

Wired magazine for September 2017 headlines its issue with "The Great Tech Panic of 2017" and offers encouragement at the bottom of the cover with "How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Future." The magazine notices a growing angst even amongst the cyber-cognoscenti. You probably know something about computers or you wouldn't be glancing at this blog. And, even though we have the computer literacy skills, we still glance constantly at the cellphone like we're stuck on a desert island looking for glass bottles floating by with messages from the mainland.

We didn't learn from Mad magazine's Alfred E. Neuman's  advice-- "What, me worry?" And Alfred definitely has the look of a hacker, or computer whizkid of some kind.

Wired mentions several different kinds of scientific, brain-study explanations for FOMO, fear of missing out:

* Social driven FOMO stems from a person's primitive desire to belong to a group, with each snap, tweet, or post a reminder of what separates you from them.

* And, this other type of FOMO, the all-news, all-the-time kind,... could also derive from a primitive behavioral instinct-- surveillance gratification-seeking, or the urge that drove our cave-dwelling ancestor to poke their heads ou and check for predators.

We even have a Category 5 presidency, as pointed out by Mike Lupica of the The New York Daily News. President Trump makes news and follows it at the same time-- watching cable TV, getting angry and tapping away on his Twitter account. The guy creates an infinite loop of his own making. But, Donald Trump demonstrates a healthy response by letting out his feelings. Keep reading and you'll learn why it's important to express yourself.

Wired explains that human being are "meaning-making machines" and suggests a solution. This may sound counter-intuitive but... Wired says you should get more involved! The best response? Smartest thing to do about "coping with overload.... is... adding to the stream." Take at your keyboard and start tapping!

Here's Wired suggestion:

* Finish every post before moving on to the next one, but not before commenting, tweeting, or posting your thoughts about it...You can only comment so many times-- but you develop a better sense of which issues really inspire, enrage of matter most to you.... You'll realize, sooner than you imagine, that you're not missing out on anything.

As the old cliche goes-- the best defense is a good offense. Tell the world what you think.

And, if that fails... there's always Plan B. Find the the adult beverage of your choice and watch the world go by-- out the window. Remember to drink responsibly. Never mix drinking and driving-- or drinking and texting!

McLuhan Google Doodle: a vision of four distinct eras (Human History)

https://www.google.com/doodles/marshall-mcluhans-106th-birthday

Paste the link above into your browser to see McLuhan's Google Doodle, illustrating these concepts:

•  Acoustic Age
• Written Age
• Mass Production (Fordism)
• McLuhan television appearance
•  Global Village/Electronic Age

·       McLuhan Google Doodle

·      Long before we started looking to our screens for all the answers, Marshall McLuhan saw the internet coming — and predicted just how much impact it would have. A Canadian philosopher and professor who specialized in media theory, McLuhan came to prominence in the 1960s, just as TV was becoming part of everyday life. At the center of his thinking was the idea that society is shaped by technology and the way information is shared.

·      Today’s Doodle, which celebrates the visionary’s 106th birthday, illustrates this theory by showing how McLuhan viewed human history. He saw it through the lens of 4 distinct eras: the acoustic age, the literary age, the print age, and the electronic age. His first major book, The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962), popularized the term “global village” — the idea that technology brings people together and allows everyone the same access to information. 

·      In Understanding Media (1964), McLuhan further examined the transformative effects of technology and coined his famous phrase “The medium is the message.” He believed that the way in which someone receives information is more influential than the information itself. Throughout the '60s and '70s, McLuhan made frequent TV appearances to share his theories with both followers and skeptics.

·      Decades later, we honor the man whose prophetic vision of the “computer as a research and communication instrument” has undeniably become a reality.

Disappearing Worlds: social media and the loss of identity

Marshall McLuhan, my favorite philosopher, always ascribed violent behavior to the lack of identity. The perpetrator of violence against others lacks invariably lacks a sense of self. The lack of a sense of self probably leads to self-destruction as well.

An article in the New Yorker, June 5 & 12, 2017, entitled "The Addicts Next Door" described the catastrophic toll of opioid and heroin addiction plaguing the state of West Virginia. Entire communities have been ravaged by drug overdoses and author Margaret Talbot describes the situation in harrowing detail. Parents have overdosed in front of their neighbors and their own children. One scene depicted parents falling face down to the ground at their child's softball game. If lucky, the E.M.T. (Emergency Medical Technicians) staff arrives in time to revive the addict with with a dose of Narcan or by administering CPR. The article offers no satisfactory explanation for why opioid and heroin addiction has become a preferred lifestyle for so many residents of West Virginia.

I told a friend about the article and he texted me an interesting comparison, and a possible explanation:

When Spanish got to the Caribbean the Carib Indians began hanging themselves in large numbers-- lost their world. Like W. Virginia.

Let's turn to maestro McLuhan in his last book "The Global Village," co-authored with Bruce R. Powers. This is from chapter 8, Global Robotism: The Dissatisfactions (p.97)

What may emerge as the most important insight of the twenty-first century is that man was not designed to live at the speed of light. Without the countervailing balance of natural and physical laws, the new video-related media will make man implode upon himself. As he sits in the informational control room, whether at home or at work, receiving data at enormous speeds-- imagistic, sound, or tactile-- from all areas of the world, the results could be dangerously inflating and schizophrenic. His body will remain in one place but his mind will float out in the electronic voice, being everywhere at once in the data bank.

At that point, technology is out of control.

McLuhan died in 1980 and missed out on the development of the cellphone-- though he grasped more  completely the impact of digital technology than any of the more recent media analysts. The "informational control room" now sits in our hand and we stare at its contents incessantly. As McLuhan predicted, we are transported everywhere and vast amounts of information arrive at our brain and central nervous at the speed of light.

The total disruption of our sense of personal identity via the electronic vortex, now called the social media, has wreaked havoc-- and the West Virginia opioid/heroin catastrophe may just be a single expression of the problem.

Our old world has disappeared and countless worlds have intruded upon our existence. The new worlds lack a connection to "natural and physical laws" and leave us in a dispiriting situation, going crazy but meanwhile addicted to technology-- the beast that devours us!

Understanding Trump-- A Struggle for Images

An election is a period of programmed violence, because it is a quest for new images of national identity. The present election is a “tragic” one, because the American sense of identity has been in jeopardy from new technology for some time. Every new technology creates a new sensory environment that rearranges the images we make of ourselves. To discover and to elect representatives in a period of deep personal uncertainty is to be involved in a struggle for images, not a struggle for goals.      

Anyone who looks as if he wants to be elected had best stay off TV. TV demands sophistication—that is, multi-level perception. It is a depth medium, an X-ray form that penetrates the viewer.

TV, of course, has transformed the primaries from regional popularity contests into national image-making shows. Radio and jet travel, like press coverage, still count on the candidate’s having a special slogan, a special issue, that identifies him. TV has ended that. The press can only tag along to comment on what happened on TV.

But, in a deep sense, TV bypasses the ballot box as a means of creating political “representatives.” TV is not concerned with views or interests or issues. It is a maker and finder of images that ride over all points of view and over all age-groups as well. The TV image ends all national and party politics.

Why should TV demand sophistication and insouciance? Simply because it is a depth medium for which earnestness is fatal. Depth requires perception on many levels and, therefore, an absence of single purpose or direction. An all-at-once world, fashioned by electric information, demands a candidate full of puns and unexpected nuances. Such a man is one who knows so much about the contemporary interface of all cultures that he cannot possibly be deluded into any earnest regard for any one of them. The new changes are not moral but technological. 

(Marshall McLuhan, 1968)