Our laws of media are intended to provide a ready 
means of identifying the properties of and actions 
exerted upon ourselves by our technologies and 
media and artefacts. They do not rest on any 
concept of theory, but are empirical, and form a 
practical means of perceiving the action and 
effects of ordinary human tools and services. 
They apply to all human artefacts, whether 
hardware or software, whether bulldozers or 
buttons, or poetic styles or philosophical systems. 
The four laws are framed as questions: What does 
the artefact enhance or intensify or make possible 
or accelerate? This can be asked concerning a 
wastebasket, a painting, a steam roller, or a