Reflection: The Medium is the Message

Here we begin to understand that 'the medium' (new technologies) introduces a new complexity/depth in our human affairs that creates social consequences. The content of a medium usually points to another medium, so rather than getting lost in the content/end product, focus should be directed on the medium itself as the source of meaningful information. Basically, pay attention to the character and social implications of the medium, not just the physical output of what it creates.

The 'medium is the message' seems to be a kind of equivalent to the spiritual insight 'it's the journey, not the destination'. The first phrase indicates that there is more involved than simple causality - it's not just 'this causes that', or 'first this, then that'. Rather, the process between A and B is where our attention should be focused. In the same way, we're given life lessons by being instructed to look at the journey, the process, the things that happen in between the concept/plan and the result. The sweetness of life and grist for growth and pondering lies in the patterns and changes in the middle.

McLuhan goes on to point on that General David Sarnoff is an idiot who doesn't "get" the nature of the medium at all, because he had claimed that technologies are neither good or bad in themselves, but it is the way in which they are used that determine their value. That statement is in direct opposition to McLuhan's point about the 'content' of the medium being irrelevant, and rather the implications of the medium on society as the important question to ask. McLuhan's point is that the technology doesn't merely become an addition to a currently existing toolset, it actually reshapes and reforms the entire operation of the system.

The awareness that "the medium is the message" is becoming more apparent as technologies grant us access to instantaneous information, canceling out the necessity to view and interpret things as they were previously presented to us: sequentially. The sequence itself is an illusion, as the message lies in holistic awareness. By breaking things down into a series of parts and analyzing them individually, they can never be understood in the same way as looking at the whole. But when viewed wholly, or simultaneously, the medium takes on a life of its own, as a living system, not one that 'results in' something or 'does' something, but one that merges with, shapes, and recreates that with which it interacts. (i.e. us, individually and societally). An example of this is given later in reference to "detribalization by literacy". The technology doesn't just lead to something else, but actually transforms the very fabric of the society, and the individual's role within it.

It's also pointed out that how we react to or respond to the medium is inconsequential to its effect upon us. Claiming that one is immune to the effects of a pervasive technology in society is simply ignorance. The medium doesn't have to be "accepted", or even understood - because of its integrated position within our culture and memeplex, it is subconsciously (or unconsciously) influential.

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word of the day: somnambulism

Technological Somnambulism is a concept used when talking about the philosophy of technology. The term was used by Langdon Winner in his essay Technology as forms of life. Winner puts forth the idea that we are simply in a state of sleepwalking in our mediations with technology. This sleepwalking is caused by a number of factors. One of the primary causes is the way we view technology as tools, something that can be put down and picked up again. Because of this view of objects as something we can easily separate ourselves from we fail to look at the long term implications of using that object. A second factor is separation of those who make the technology and those who use the technology. This division causes there to be little thought and research going into the effects of using/developing that technology. The third and most important idea is the way in which technology seems to create new worlds in which we live. These worlds are created by the restructuring of the common and seemingly everyday things around us. In most situations the changes take place with little attention or care from us because we are more focused on the menial aspects of the technology (winner 105-107).

favorite quote:

It is not an exaggeration to say that the future of modern society and the stability of its inner life depend in large part on the maintenance of an equilibrium between the strength of the techniques of communication and the capacity of the individual's own reaction.

notes to self:

Is there not charms
By which the property of youth and maidhood
May be abus'd?

a shakespearean commentary on new media? i guess this can be interpreted as the media's ability to make us create false expectations or standards for ourselves - for what youth and beauty are supposed to look like, how you're supposed to act, the sought after hyperrealistic illusions of fashion magazines, reality shows, music videos, and pop culture in general; being tricked into superficiality; transforming what the essence of youth means in today's society

'Medium is the Message'
- the "message" of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs

ex. machine automation
- machine technology = fragmentary, centralist, superficial in its patterning of human relationships
- automation technology = integral and decentralist in depth

ex. railway
- didn't introduce transportation, it accelerated/enlarged the scale of previous human functions; new kinds of cities/work/leisure

ex. airplane
- didn't introduce travel, it accelerating the rate of transportation

"content" of any medium is another medium
- content of print => the written word
- content of the telegraph => print
- content of speech => the process of thought
- content of electric light => night baseball
- content of railway => coal, produce, etc.