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Understanding McLuhan
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Understanding McLuhan (1996)(Voyager)[Mac-PC].iso
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07066_Field_TCUM T631.txt
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1996-04-10
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literacy.
If delegated chain-of-command authority won’t work by
telephone but only by written instruction, what sort of
authority does come into play? The answer is simple, but not
easy to convey. On the telephone only the authority of
knowledge will work. Delegated authority is lineal, visual,
hierarchical. The authority of knowledge is nonlineal, nonvisual,
and inclusive. To act, the delegated person must always get
clearance from the chain-of-command. The electric situation
eliminates such patterns; such “checks and balances” are alien
to the inclusive authority of knowledge. Consequently,
restraints on electric absolutist power can be achieved, not by
the separation of powers, but by a pluralism of centres. This
problem has arisen apropos of the direct private line from the
Kremlin to the White House. President Kennedy stated his