Thoughts on McLuhan

Embracing the Information Society ... or just being numb!

Martin Bangemann was, according to some, the first to use and define the term information society in '93 when he, together with a group of others, wrote the recommendations to the European Council on the measure that should be taken into consideration for the infrastructure of information. "Europe and the global information society". I would like to start this essay by quoting a short paragraph from the report: "The information infrastructure can prove an extraordinary instrument for serving the people of Europe and improving our society by fully reflecting the original and often unique values which underpin and give meaning to our lives."

Bangemann is underlining the trule values that give meaning to our lives and thereby mentioning the vast issue of identity in the information society. The report of '93 leaves us with very little reason to be alarmed or cautions about this "wonderful" information society. Marshall McLuhan would not be too pleased with these statements. Source on Bangemann: Bangemann

In the thinking of McLuhan, we surround ourselves with various tools in our life. We wear clothing, use glasses, use tools to perform work etc. McLuhan believes that these tools fundamentally are extensions of ourselves, e.g. that the glasses are an extension of our eyes or our sight. However, these tools are not entities without context or impact; we create and shape the tools that in turn shape us; we er influenced by the inventions that we create, as in this case the technology. Parallel to this, we distance ourselves from the tools we create according to McLuhan. The story of Narcissus, who fell in love with his own image, however without knowing that it was his own image, is used as an analogy of how we distance us from our actions and become numb to the impacts of the very tools we create ourselves. McLuhan says we create this distance fundamentally to protect ourselves.

"We have to understand to be able to be opposed" and McLuhan invented and suggesed the four everlasting laws of media as a tool to analyze and understand the world around us and the evolution. These are the four fundamental questions we need to ask when confronted with new media. We need to do this to be able to get involved and to control what is happening to our society and our lives, as opposed to being numb, distance ourselves from the tools we create and the consequences of these tools. As McLuhan says: "Nothing is inevitable as long as we are prepared to pay attention"

To be able to analyze the expected changes from the future information society, I will, to stay within the page limit of the assignment, focus specifically on the changes I believe will occur on the internet and specifically on the image of the future web sites, as shown short assignment.The end of human interaction as we know it?

I will analyze this scenario of virtual life via web sites by using the four Laws of Media by McLuhan.

Enhance
Interacting virtually through the internet of the information society, the technology is enhancing mobility, not in the physical sense (as that is no longer "needed") - but much more in the virtual sense! It could enhance learning as it would be possible not only to visit, i.e. to see, foreign web sites as today, but really visit the sites, meaning travelling virtually to the places or sites and interacting in a much more advanced way compared to today. As some are experimenting with transmitting smell or scent or fragrances through the broadband, one could argue that all senses are being stimulated in a virtual world. By breaking down physical boundaries such as distance, time, cost, and maybe even language, this would be the enabler of a virtual learning space.

Obsolete
Unfortunately, the picture of virtual life on line makes me very sad. The technology is interesting and can certainly enable powerfull and interesting changes into our society. Also, I fear that this change is enavitable, dispite the words of McLuhan. The reason for my sadness is largely that much is also made obsolte by introducing this virtual life. What happens to books, i.e. the written word? How will our ability to imagine be affected. I fear the technology could make both obsolete! Furthermore, as described in the web site story, the need for travelling and any physical social interaction could potentially be obsolte (or decreased). Taking that thought to the extreme, one could have an on-line marriage with a wife or husband, that in physical reality could be somewhere else in the world.

Retrieve
In the words of McLuhan, "you don't need to be anywhere to do everything and know everything" in the global village, because "information now comes from all directions at once and we live in the accoustic world". He is arguing that the electric media retrieves the old, dark age and to a large extent, the experience of the old days is retrieved through virtuality, the experience from "when you knew everything about everybody and news travlled fast".

Reverse
In effect, the move toward having more experiences online though virtual web sites, would lead to having less real experiences. I noticed a certain quote from the McLuhan movie, and roughly it was that too much of anything will always bring you the opposite of what you expect. Virtual life on the web can create virtual mobility but will drecrease the need for true mobility. It should improve and increase communication, but could have the entire opposite effect. "We start as consumers but end up being consumed"

- Lars Chr. Eriksen