Understanding McLuhan/Understanding McLuhan (1996)(Voyager)[Mac-PC].iso/pc/mcluhan.dxr/07074_Field_TCUM T639.txt

Text File | 1996-04-10 | 920b | 16 lines

of a new phrase, or a speech form, or a dance rhythm is already
direct evidence of some actual development to which it is
significantly related. Take, for example, the shift of English into
an interrogative mood, since the arrival of “How about that?”
Nothing could induce people to begin suddenly to use such a
phrase over and over, unless there were some new stress,
rhythm, or nuance in interpersonal relations that gave it
relevance.

     It was while handling paper tape, impressed by Morse
Code dots and dashes, that Edison noticed the sound given off
when the tape moved at high speed resembled “human talk
heard indistinctly.” It then occurred to him that indented tape
could record a telephone message. Edison became aware of the
limits of lineality and the sterility of specialism as soon as he
entered the electric field. “Look,” he said, “it’s like this. I start