I just went back and read the Playboy Interview with Marshall McLuhan from 1969. It's always fun to go back and re-read some of the ideas that played a role in shaping my thinking. As a nice surprise, two ideas seemed to jump out at me as particularly relevant today. The Phonetic Alphabet Was Our Ticket Out of the Tribe In the interview, McLuhan argues that tribal … [Read more...]
As Asynchronous as I Wanna Be
Back in the day, real-time communications were rare. Only when you were face to face with someone could you conduct a synchronous conversation. Other than that, communications were pretty send-and-wait in nature: send the messenger and wait for his return (and hope he doesn't get killed), send the letter and wait for the response. News traveled slowly either by "pass it … [Read more...]