"After three thousand years of explosion, by means of fragmentary and mechanical technologies, the Western world is imploding. During the
mechanical ages we had extended our bodies in space. Today, after more than a century of
electric technology, we have extended our
central nervous system itself in a
global embrace,
abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned. Rapidly, we approach the final phase of the extensions of man - the technological simulation of consciousness, when the creative process of knowing will be collectively and corporately extended to the whole of human society, much as we have already extended our senses and our nerves by the various
media."
-Marshal Mcluhan
Tom Wolfe has written about Marshall Mcluhan, a
Canadian who had been hired by the worlds leading corporate nations to give them a glimpse of the future. Mcluhan's awareness of
literary and
historical truths have led him to a deeper understanding of who we are and how we got here via the development of technology.
The author of many important books on
media theory, perhaps the most important book arguably was his
Gutenberg Galaxy' written in his backyard on a
ping-pong table. This book follows the change from visual cultures to the
linear thought processes and information dissemination
vis a vis the
printing press. The path has now lead us back into the visual, with computer technologies.
"The medium is the message", and "Global Villiage" are Mcluhan's more well known ideas, but they are only specks in the eye of those looking at his work as a whole. Also the
Patron Saint of
Wired Magazine.