Marshall McLuhan is a man of great depth. His words though irrational to many have given others an alarming sense of truth regarding the path down which society has traveled. He is much like a piece of fine art. He gives us just enough information to see the image; which in his case is a society consumed by technology, all the while allowing his viewers the space to make their own criticisms.
He speaks of extensions and amputations- those tools that both add and take away from the endeavors of mankind. He speaks about these as two separate things while in fact they are the same. He’s giving us the option to choose. It’s like asking someone if the glass is half full or half empty. Is technology- helping society, or are we just hurting the potential we have to make progress within our endeavors? For instance someone who views the glass as half full might say that a computer has aided society in many ways by giving us a faster more condensed way to access and store information, whereas a viewer of a glass half empty would say that we are losing more than we are gaining due to the lack of human connection lost in the hours spent in front of the glowing screen.
His arguments have left a lasting impression as he has challenged us to face the lives that we live and decide whether or not we are “extending” our abilities or “amputating” our progress. Getting people to more thoroughly examine their lives and the choices they have made could quite possibly be the greatest of all his accomplishments.
D. Whitcomb
2 comments:
I agree that is one of his most important contributions. I personally think technology can be both good an bad. It can help people be more social but also less social in real life. It also has some heath effects when people who stare at computer screens for long amounts of time start to notice feeling sick or eye strain from the bright light of the computer instead of being outdoors.
~Karen Borden
I must agree completely. Of course, his persona is not completely making him a man that can change the world. Just an individual who can simply take what he has seen and make us see why it is done by people. And with using technology as a key, it can make a person really wonder sometimes, is it true or not? But basically, I can agree with this completely.
- William Waitman
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