(1911–1980)
Canadian educator, philosopher, scholar, author, and communication theorist
Marshall McLuhan
Marshall McLuhan is taken far too seriously.
1967 interview, YouTube
“Authorship”—in the sense we know it today, individual intellectual effort related to the book as an economic commodity—was practically unknown before the advent of print technology. Medieval scholars were indifferent to the precise identity of the “books” they studied. In turn, they rarely signed even what was clearly their own work. They were a humble service organization. Procuring texts was often a very tedious and time-consuming task. Many small texts were transmitted into volumes of miscellaneous content, very much like “jottings” in a scrapbook, and, in this transmission, authorship was often lost.
The Medium is the Massage (New York: Touchstone, 1967), 122.
In an electric information environment, minority groups can no longer be contained—ignored. Too many people know too much about each other. Our new environment compels commitment and participation. We have become irrevocably involved with, and responsible for, each other.
The Medium is the Massage (New York: Touchstone, 1967), 24.