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Marshall McLuhan

A collection of 11 issues

Sam Kriss Will Come to Your House and Kill You

"And if I ever see any of you trying to palm off some bullshit about how sunlight smells of memories that leave no footsteps . . . I will come to your house and I’ll fucking kill you." Sam Kriss. Pope Leo agrees, at least in principle. (Essay)

Books Aren't Rational. They're Tactile.

Back in the greasy, disco-lit haze of the 1970s and the dawn of the Reaganite ‘80s, the publishing world churned out a billion paperbacks. They were dirt cheap, some even free, handed out like girlie pamphlets on the Vegas strip. But there was a hook: they were riddled with ads,

Is the Netflix Documentary a Paean to Catholic Convert and Daily Communicant Marshall McLuhan?

The Social Dilemma uses the intellectual framework built by McLuhan, but the similarities stop there The Social Dilemma documentary has broken records. According to its main star, Tristan Harris, 38 million households in the first 28 days saw it on Netflix. That’s incredible. What’s even more incredible? The

Did Video Bring Us BLM, Riots, and COVID Hysteria?

A new essay about the Marshall McLuhan disciple, Neil Postman You like dead white guys? How about a dead white guy who was the disciple of a dead white guy? I do. I also like DWG Marshall McLuhan and his disciple, DWG Neil Postman, whose Amusing Ourselves to Death is

Ben Franklin and the Mouse

How I finally accepted multi-tasking It had been there for years, but I had never noticed it. Until one morning when I found myself with a telephone receiver tucked under my neck while I talked with an acquaintance, a computer mouse in my hand while I surfed the Internet, and

Cell Phones, Radio, and the Philosophy of Marshall McLuhan

“Hot” media and “cool” media were McLuhan’s buzz dichotomy. A hot medium is one that extends one of our senses. A cool medium is one that requires a lot from one of our senses.

How Have These Ten Extensions Changed Us?

Toward the end of his life, Marshall McLuhan provided a list of the ten things that have changed us the most. Perhaps the biggest difference between childhood and adulthood is time. The adult frantically looks for more time. The child looks for ways to fill time. I filled a lot

Does the Telephone Cripple the Right Hemisphere . . . Thereby Preoccupying our Pysches in General?

Low spatial frequency means not much information is present, so you have to do extra work to make out what you are looking at. Iain McGilchrist, The Matter with Things, Chp. 2. Looked at through Marshall McLuhan lingo: “Hot” media and “cool” media were McLuhan’s buzz dichotomy. A hot

QR Codes Aren't Evil

They just feel that way. We ought to be asking "why?"

McLuhan Sighting

"Philosophize This" dedicates an episode to Marshall McLuhan. It's very good. The podcast is here. The transcript to the podcast is here. You ask people that question what would you rather be? Blind or deaf? And 99% of people say they'd rather be deaf.