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Understanding McLuhan
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Understanding McLuhan (1996)(Voyager)[Mac-PC].iso
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07270_Field_TCUM T835.txt
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1996-04-10
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technology. As anything becomes more complex, it becomes
less specialized. Man is more complex and less specialized than
a dinosaur. The older mechanical operations were designed to
be more efficient as they became larger and more specialized.
The electric and automated unit, however, is quite otherwise. A
new automatic machine for making automobile tailpipes is
about the size of two or three office desks. The computer
control panel is the size of a lectern. It has in it no dies, no
fixtures, no settings of any kind, but rather certain general-
purpose things like grippers, benders, and advancers. On this
machine, starting with lengths of ordinary pipe, it is possible to
make eighty different kinds of tailpipe in succession, as rapidly,
as easily, and as cheaply as it is to make eighty of the same
kind. And the characteristic of electric automation is all in this
direction of return to the general-purpose handicraft flexibility
that our own hands possess. The programming can now