home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Understanding McLuhan
/
Understanding McLuhan (1996)(Voyager)[Mac-PC].iso
/
pc
/
mcluhan.dxr
/
06655_Field_TCUM T220.txt
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1996-04-10
|
944b
|
16 lines
his greatest inventions as counter-irritants. These inventions
were extensions of himself by means of concentrated toil, by
which he hoped to neutralize distress. The Greek word ponos , or
“toil,” was a term used by Hippocrates, the father of medicine,
to describe the fight of the body in disease. Today this idea is
called homeostasis , or equilibrium as a strategy of the staying
power of any body. All organizations, but especially biological
ones, struggle to remain constant in their inner condition
amidst the variations of outer shock and change. The man-
made social environment as an extension of man’s physical
body is no exception. The city, as a form of the body politic,
responds to new pressures and irritations by resourceful new
extensions—always in the effort to exert staying power,
constancy, equilibrium, and homeostasis .
The city, having been formed for protection, unexpectedly