the theme of the later work of Harold Innis. His early work 
concerns staples in the ordinary sense. In his maturity he hit on 
the discovery that technological media like writing, papyrus, 
radio, photoengraving, and such are themselves wealth. (54)

     Without a technology tending to process experience 
homogeneously, a society cannot go far toward the control of 
natural forces nor even the organization of human effort. This 
was the ironic theme of The Bridge Over the River Kwai . The 
Japanese Buddhist Colonel has no technology to tackle the job. 
The English Colonel has it all diagrammed and segmented in no 
time. Of course, he has no proper end in view. His technology is 
his way of life. He lives by the book of the Geneva Convention. 
To an oral Frenchman all this is hilarious. English and American 
audiences found the picture profound, subtle, elusive.