home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Understanding McLuhan
/
Understanding McLuhan (1996)(Voyager)[Mac-PC].iso
/
pc
/
mcluhan.dxr
/
06446_Field_TCUM T11.txt
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1996-04-10
|
1KB
|
16 lines
the telegraph. If it is asked, “What is the content of speech?”, it
is necessary to say, “It is an actual process of thought, which
is in itself nonverbal.” An abstract painting represents direct
manifestation of creative thought processes as they might
appear in computer designs. What we are considering here,
however, are the psychic and social consequences of the
designs or patterns as they amplify or accelerate existing
processes. For the “message” of any medium or technology is
the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into
human affairs. The railway did not introduce movement or
transportation or wheel or road into human society, but it
accelerated and enlarged the scale of previous human
functions, creating totally new kinds of cities and new kinds of
work and leisure. This happened whether the railway functioned
in a tropical or a northern environment, and is quite
independent of the freight or content of the railway medium.