Marshall McLuhan described all media as an extension of man. Tools are extensions of our body, if you don't think so try hammering in a nail with your forehead. They allow us to do things our bodies can't do. In the same way media: writing, painting, photography, telecommunications, television, are extension of our mind.
These media carry our thoughts into a wider realm, a collective consciousness, a vast artificial memory system. Like the late and great Carl Sagan said, "Information has gone from DNA, to brains, to books." Well, we have gone far beyond books in the systematic collection of human thoughts.
We can immediately think of the internet as this system, but it is, in fact, much much wider and older than that. Media begins with the first cave paintings, the first written word, the first sculpture, the first photograph and so on. We dump the contents of our brains into a vast reservoir of ideas that is growing exponentially. The latest innovation, the internet, simply makes it easy for everyone to dump memories and thoughts into this reservoir, which was for so long reserved for the most privileged and learned of people.
What is the danger in collecting all this information and making it public? McLuhan calls it a Media Narcosis, a narcotic like numbing effect at being faced with ourselves in this fashion. A good example is Television. It is totally one way. You sit, the television preaches. You may say the internet is different, we all have the opportunity to contribute. True, but one kid sets his farts on fire and 2,250,400 of us watch it in silence.
1 comment:
Interesting post. I dunno, but I actually reckon the new media of blogging and twittering has the old media, PR and advertising companies as well as corporations shit scared. As much as I kind of agree with your post, it is a new form of democracy that they don't know how to control it yet - and they want to try - but it is elusive...
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