Understanding Media-The Extensions Of Man, Marshall Mcluhan, 1964 - by Marshall McLuhan.pdf - Media - lady_kitty

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Understanding Media

The Extensions of Man

by Marshall McLuhan

The MIT Press, 1964

365 pages

Focus

Take - Aways

Leadership

Strategy

Sales & Marketing

Corporate Finance

Human Resources

Technology

Production & Logistics

Small Business

Economics & Politics

Industries & Regions

Career Development

Personal Finance

Self Improvement

Ideas & Trends

• All media are extensions of Man’s physical and psychological being that seek to

increase speed and power.

• Media, in turn, shape Man’s physical and psychological being.

• Older communications media like writing, roads, military force and printing produ-

ced a linear-thinking, rational and civilized Man.

• Our Western social and economic structures were built on a framework that arose

from those communications forms.

• The acceleration of electric media allows instantaneous communication.

• The social explosion of the Industrial Age will give way to a social implosion in

the Electric Age.

• Cool media give little information and require much participation. Hot media give

much information and require little participation.

• In the Electric Age, information is commodiﬁ ed and traditional commodities assume

informational qualities.

Rating (10 is best)

Overall

Applicability

Innovation

Style

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Review

Understanding Media

Reading Understanding Media brings to mind the old line that Shakespeare’s plays are

nothing but a bunch of clichés. McLuhan’s 1964 look at the impact of technology and

communications on society is laced with phrases that have become ﬁ xtures of modern

language, like ‘Global Village’, ‘Age of Information’ and ‘The medium is the message’.

The book seeks to tie together big themes like art, culture, and social and economic

history. While often successful at drawing these sweeping connections, McLuhan in

certain chapters wanders into what sound like self-indulgent lectures. His analysis of

television as a “cool” or low-resolution medium is dated. Phrases like “dig it” and too-

numerous references to “the bomb,” Mad magazine and skin-divers clearly belong to the

early 1960s. But this book is valuable for its prophetic analyses. McLuhan’s prediction

of an emerging information-based economy and a global integration facilitated by the

Internet and digital technologies is stunningly accurate. getAbstract.com recommends

Understanding Media to executives working in media, telecommunications and techno-

logy, all of whom should have at least a passing knowledge of this classic.

Abstract

“Under electric

technology the

entire business of

man becomes

learning and kno-

wing.”

Te ch nol o g y Evolut i on

We are constantly being shaped by our technology. Advancements in technology in the

form of media have enhanced our ability to communicate and in many cases have funda-

mentally changed our institutions, society, and even ourselves. Technology is nothing

more than the specialization and ampliﬁ cation of Man’s nature, while words and media

are metaphors that translate experience into understandable form. Technologies increase

power and speed, and increases in power and speed have a destabilizing effect on esta-

blished roads of communication. Electric speeds destroy established roads, and create

power centers everywhere on the planet. Whereas historical Roman paper routes served

to align marginal, tribal cultures to the Roman power center, our electronic roads do the

opposite. They re-tribalize Western, linear-thinking Man and create a “global village.”

New speed in communication results in restructured social arrangements.

“A new medium is

never an addition

to an old one, nor

does it leave the

old one in place.”

Fast access to information and printed words ended the tribalism and parochialism of

the Middle Ages. The printed book contributed to a static, standardized interpretation

of the world. Printing made education accessible and encouraged individualism, but

also contributed to a linear and group-thinking mentality. Books were the ﬁ rst form of

mass production, and the information contained in books prepared society for structural

change associated with mass production. Print caused the separation of words, music,

religion and poetry, and standardized the syntax and grammar of languages. Separation

of languages fueled the rise of nationalism.

“Entertainment

pushed to an

extreme becomes

the main form of

business and poli-

tics.”

Speech can convey more immediacy, emotion, and subtlety of meaning than written

words. Consequently, reading is less emotionally involved than conversation. Intuition

and consciousness are limited by language, although language allows man to extend

beyond himself. Electric technologies will affect the future of language. Computers offer

the prospect of universal understanding, if they can by-pass the restrictions of language.

The supremacy of the written word, and its organizational and homogenizing tendencies,

is threatened by technologies like TV, radio and telephone. Phonetic alphabets tend to

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“If the slugs reach

the right people,

ﬁ rearms are good.

If the TV tube ﬁ res

the right ammuni-

tion at the right

people, it is

good.”

produce individuality and linear thinking as opposed to group identity and non-uniform

concepts of time. The non-literate aspects of electric technology threaten this linear civi-

lization. But the steady improvement in technology does not always bring equivalent

progress in society.

New media technologies can have negative social effects. Complex societies can release

negative energies into less complex ones as a result of media intrusion. Demand for a

new technology often arises simply because that new technology exists. Offering our

attention to media, and the ﬁ gures who seek to proﬁ t from media, can mean abdicating

our personal rights.

The “gadget,” or electric technology in general, is an extension of man, and its use

can cause infatuation and narcosis (numbness). Any technology is a sensual experience

and will affect the physical and emotional awareness of Man. Technologies cause Man

to become more fragmented, and fragmented Man is more susceptible to technology-

induced physical and emotional change. We embrace technological extensions of oursel-

ves simply by perceiving them. People need to be informed and aware of the powerful

changes that media can cause.

“Electricity does

not centralize, but

decentralizes.”

Media: Hot and Cold

Hot media are high-deﬁ nition. They provide much information and require little partici-

pation from the viewer or listener. Movies, radio, and photographs are hot media. Cool

media are low-deﬁ nition. They provide little information and require much participation

from the viewer or listener. TV, cartoons and the telephone are cool media. Western, liter-

ate cultures are hot. Undeveloped or non-literate cultures are cool. Media have meaning

only in context with other media. In the Electric Age, we want effect, not meaning.

We often have a reactionary response and turn way from “too-hot” media. The expan-

sionist and explosive forces of industrialism will give way to the implosive and reductio-

nist forces of the Electric Age. Electricity has a decentralizing effect. The Information

Age causes cultural and class exchange, and the commodiﬁ cation of information. “Break

boundaries” are points when social and technological systems pass, irreversibly, into

new territory.

Energy is released as result of media combination. Fragmented Western civilization is

brought together by that energy. Forms of media depend on Man for direction, but are

inﬂ uenced by other forms of media. A profound cross-fertilization takes place between

media. Art and media hybridization create new cultural and media forms. McLuhan also

asks if the effort to translate Man’s experience into a spiritual form of information is

really an effort to arrive at a single human consciousness.

“In the new

Electric Age of

Information and

programmed pro-

duction, commo-

dities themselves

assume more and

more the charac-

ter of informa-

tion.”

“Fragmented, lite-

rate, and visual

individualism is

not possible in an

electrically patter-

ned and imploded

society.”

From Numbers to Ads

Each important invention of Man has altered the way he lives and, ultimately, the way

he thinks.

• Numbers, for example, possess scientiﬁ c and iconic power. Man feels comfortable in

numbers. He ﬁ nds comfort in commonality. Numbers are tactile, arising from ﬁ nger

and toe counting. The word ‘rational’ comes from having a balanced ratio of relation-

ships between our senses. In the Electric Society, we often ﬁ nd it difﬁ cult to deﬁ ne

rational.

• Clothing and housing serve as extensions of the body, controlling heat and outwardly

projecting social and political messages. Clothing and housing are forms of communi-

cation. They rearrange patterns of human learning, association and community. Heat,

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“New speed and

power are never

compatible with

existing spatial

and social arran-

gements.”

glass, and electric light reordered architecture and human social structure, especially

concerning work. The sense world is completely different when the lights are turned

on or off.

• Money changes human behavior patterns. It specializes work and the living arrange-

ments that result from specialized work. In primitive societies, rich and poor people

live in similar ways. In the Electric Age, rich and ordinary people share similar enter-

tainment, food and vehicles. Money represents wealth, but it is primarily a way to

translate work. Money is attained through work and allows the purchases of other

people’s work. Credit cards represent the best example of money as moveable informa-

tion. Electric speed creates situations where established concepts of money and work

become obsolete.

• Clocks create mechanical, repeated, and exact durations of time. Clock time is non-

organic. The medium of clock time alters human behavior, so that behavior becomes

mechanical and non-organic. Mechanical time is less sense-related than organic time.

Electric time is more organic than mechanical time because it affords unrestricted

access to information and work. Relative clock time will replace standardized, mecha-

nical clock time.

• The wheel in different forms – as used on the cart, carriage, railroad and automobile

– has long shaped our living situations and social structure. The wheel inside the

ﬁ lm movie camera created a powerful media tool. Bicycle mechanics (the Wright

Brothers) created the airplane, which also profoundly reordered our environment. The

airplane and electric culture implode the exploded growth of the city that was caused

by the wheel.

• The photograph made images repeatable and mass-marketable, and marked a break

from “typographic man” to “graphic man.” Image making and consuming became

cultural and economic factors. The world is made smaller by photography and ﬁ lm.

Objects and places removed by distance become commodifable and familiar.

• The newspaper is a “hot” medium that depends on readers’ participation in a mosaic

form. Advertisements are as important, if not more important, than news content. Bad

news is used to capture readers for advertisers. Ads have to sell their messages with

good news. Faster mediums result in faster democracy – and bypass institutions like

representation and delegation. The press acts as the fourth estate in a hot democracy,

drawing attention to certain ﬁ gures and issues.

• Automobiles, like clothing and housing, are extensions of our physical and emotional

being and make political statements. Automobiles are a key feature of our urban and

suburban landscape, and overcrowding is a problem.

• The telegraph illustrated the organic nature of media. Electricity is organic. Our

post-telegraph exterior communications systems transmit information the same way

that our bodies transmit information – instantly and interrelated to the whole body.

Because communication became instantaneous, stress from other parts of society

became transmittable to the individual.

• Typewritersintensiﬁ ed standardization in writing and communication. In both busi-

ness and art, the typewriter altered users’ perception of language, allowed informa-

tion to be arranged differently on the page, and subsequently, altered the readers’

perception of those ideas. The need for typed information fed on itself, and produced

an information explosion and information-processing economy.

• The telephone is an extension of human physiology that allows speech and interaction

over distances. It was a remarkable speed-up in human organization, and especially

quickened news gathering and dissemination. Telephone communication imploded

human separation and margins were brought closer to centers.

“Media exist to

invest our lives

with artiﬁ cial per-

ception and artiﬁ -

cial values.”

“Electric simulta-

neity ends

specialist learning

and activity, and

demands interre-

lation in depth,

even of the perso-

nality.”

“The movie, as

much as the

alphabet and the

printed word, is

an aggressive and

imperial form that

explodes outward

into other cultu-

res.”

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“It is this trend

toward more and

more power with

less and less

hardware that is

characteristic of

the Electric Age of

Information.”

• Thephonograph was invented as a “talking machine” and to preserve telephone con-

versations. With electriﬁ cation, it became an entertainment technology and provided

universal access to music and speech. Cultural (most often musical) movements could

be recorded, reproduced and disseminated, leaving their inﬂ uence on the larger culture.

• The emerging focus of advertising is to involve audience needs and emotions. Adver-

tising presents products as icons, and audience participation with the icon is more

important than the product being sold. Ads need to cut through the clutter in which

they are presented, and affect unconscious thought patterns rather than stimulate

direct buying decisions.

• Movies take the viewer out of one personal world and into another by combining the

mechanical and the organic – ﬁ lm, wheels, cameras, typography, image, ideas, actors,

etc. Sequential ﬁ lm form echoes Western, literate, rational organization. Film as an

art form and a business ﬁ rst found success in the U.S. by offering fantasies of wealth

and material goods to an immigrant audience. This formula was exported to Europe

and beyond – and what was being sold was more than just the ﬁ lm. It was the fantasy

and emotional desire of the U.S. material culture. In this way, ﬁ lm became a huge de

facto advertisement for consumer goods, based on the U.S. model.

• Radio is hot medium. It is also a fast medium, and utilizes short musical compositions,

quick news items, weather reports and jokes. Radio can be highly specialized, opera-

ting in many different languages and dialects even within the same country. In this

respect, the radio is like the town square or “back fence” because it is topical, gossip-

driven and politically potent.

• Television is a cool medium that has been successful because it works well with

Western organizational structures. It is fragmented, linear, and consumer-oriented.

TV exerts a “synesthetic” (unifying senses and imaginations) effect across cultural

lines. Because TV content originates in Western countries or is modeled on Western

forms, the synesthetic effect has a decidedly Western bias.

Industrial automation resulted in the loss of jobs. Electric technologies result in the crea-

tion of new jobs and the need for more learning. Information is energy, shared between

two sources or many sources, and constitutes work, leisure, science and art. This electric

energy is divorced from location, and has the character of our central nervous system.

Mass media concerns mass participation as much as large audience size. Electric speed

will encourage an organic reordering of social and economic institutions, much like print

and road construction inspired nationalism. The new structures will require individual

adaptability and creativity.

About The Author

Marshall McLuhan was born in Alberta, Canada, and received a Ph.D. in English Litera-

ture from Cambridge University. He taught at the University of Wisconsin, the University

of St. Louis, and the University of Toronto. In addition to Understanding Media , he wrote

The Mechanical Bride and The Gutenberg Galaxy .

Buzz-Words

C ool medium / C ounter-irritant / C ybernation / D epth involvement / G lobal village / H ot

medium / I mplosion / I nformation Age / P rogramming / P seudo-event / S ynesthesia / T he

medium is the message

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