I chose to watch the McLuhan introduction and was interested in his concept of a global village. He predicted accurately that with the invention of television and eventually the web that this form of communication will link all people by most of their senses. In 1964 he stated in his book Understanding Media, "Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned." (Marshall McLuhan Forsees the Global Village, 2014, Para.1)I don't know how many other people could have seen this future coming for our world, but he did. Today we are connected in an infinite amount of ways to an infinite amount of things. Not just our town, or state or country but the whole world! Like synapses in the brain, our messages can be instantly transported.
Nicolas Tesla was another forward-thinker of the past, before McLuhan himself. In an interview with Colliers magazine Tesla in 1926 stated: "When wireless is perfectly applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instruments through which we shall be able to do his will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket." (Marshall McLuhan Forsees the Global Village, 2014, Para.3)
How amazing is it that these men were so in tune with the future of our technology?! I know that we have dreams of future technology today; teleportation, flying cars, living on the moon, traveling outside of our solar system and so much more. We think that these are things of the far future, but we might be surprised to find out that there are coming a lot sooner than we can ever imagine!
References:
Marshall McLuhan Foresees The Global Village. (2014). Retrieved July 10, 2015, from http://www.livinginternet.com/i/ii_mcluhan.htm
Marshall McLuhan Speaks Special Collection: Introduction by Tom Wolfe
Nicole,
ReplyDeleteBoth McLuhan and Tesla are correct with their analyzations and predictions. Most reactions of humans derive from our immediate senses before our brain process the information. What I mean is that we might sense that something feels or taste good – but in reality it might not be good for us. So our immediate sense tells us it’s good before our brain tells us – this good feeling or taste is not good for us. And yes, the capability of the internet has allow us to connect instantly in ways we could never had image which in turn can be describe as being one unit in many cases; especially now with virtual worlds becoming as popular as they are.
Wireless internet is an extension of the central nervous system. I never thought about the world wide web this way. Yet this was stated years ago, it has become the reality we live in. Participating in participatory culture has become the norm. As described, we are all connected like one cyber brain. This could be used for positive or negative. I am pleased with my decision to take up these courses. I'm being a little over dramatic, but this makes me feel like part of a new cyber community within the social network. I hope to be one of the innovators...
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