In retrospect, it seems overly optimistic to have thought that technology would make us anything other than more of what we already were. Sure... In the early days of the internet it was easy to believe that this magical new technology would usher in an era of heightened enlightenment, riding in on a wave of ones and zeroes. In fact, the early indications were that some new … [Read more...]
Technology and Spacetime: Then & There is Here & Now
A while back, I wrote a post in response to re-reading an interview with Marshall McLuhan. It described the way that the printed word created a portability of culture beyond the immediacy of face-to-face communication. However, print also introduced a coolness to the cultural exchange by removing many of the subtleties, like intonation and gestures, from the exchange. I argued … [Read more...]
An Anthropology of Our Own
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...]