Understanding McLuhan/Understanding McLuhan (1996)(Voyager)[Mac-PC].iso/pc/mcluhan.dxr/06741_Field_TCUM T306.txt

Text File | 1996-04-10 | 911b | 16 lines

social metaphor, bridge, or translator, money—like writing—
speeds up exchange and tightens the bonds of
interdependence in any community. It gives great spatial
extension and control to political organizations, just as writing
does, or the calendar. It is action at a distance, both in space
and in time. In a highly literate, fragmented society, “Time is
money,” and money is the store of other people’s time and
effort.

     During the Middle Ages the idea of the fisc  or “the King’s
purse” kept the notion of money in relation to language (“the
King’s English”) and to communication by travel (“the King’s
highway”). Before the advent of printing, it was quite natural
for the means of communication to be regarded as extensions
of a single body. In an increasingly literate society, money and
the clock assumed a high degree of visual or fragmented