Technological Determinism: Marshal McLuhan’s Crystal Ball

Marshall McLuhan might have been a seer who can predict the future. Or maybe he had a crystal ball when he wrote in 1962, “A computer as a research and communication instrument could enhance retrieval, obsolesce mass library organization, retrieve the individual’s encyclopedic function and flip into a private line to speedily tailored data of a saleable kind.” His description sounds a lot like search engines like Google that puts a massive database of data at our fingertips that is available on demand. Furthermore, data mining organizations like Google have found a way to generate revenue from hoarding data. Whoa. Where can I get a hold of his crystal ball?

Marshall McLuhan is known for his work studying technological determinism.

According to McLuhan, new media technologies have a profound impact on our society. This is at the heart of his version of what is called technological determinism. He raises three strong points:

1. Communication technology is an extension of our mind and body. In the case of the Internet, the communication medium is like an extension of our brain, that takes basic inputs and makes sense of complex patterns in the world.

2. Humans create tools, in this case, communication technologies, and in turn, these tools shape us.

3. Different media invites varying levels of interactivity from its audience. He uses a temperature-based metaphor where ‘hot’ media like television or movies are not media that you touch or interact with. On the other hand, video games are ‘cooler’ because players can touch/interact with the media.

Watch to hear McLuhan explains the concept of ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ in context of how much the media form invites the user/audience to be interactive with the media form.

While McLuhan’s theorizing was strong in a lot of ways, there are three limitations as well:

1. He foresaw a ‘global village’ brought on by media that reaches across the globe. The term ‘global village’ can be deceptive. It connotes a somewhat utopian image of people gathering around the digital campfire singing songs. It actually can be looked at as a collection of tribes that often are in conflict.

The Global Village theory is actually a complex concept. The limitation that I flag is that it’s easy to think it’s a simple theory. It’s easy to think that it’s only about how technologies like the Internet bring people together. The concept is way more involved than that, and if you don’t take the time to read McLuhan’s meandering explanations, you can easily misconstrue what it actually means. Read this article on the CBC website for a simpler explanation.

2. I completely agree that media shapes society, but perhaps McLuhan overemphasizes its significance in its influence on society. There are plenty of equally important issues and factors that direct a society such as socio-economic pressures, geographical factors, and educational levels.

The phrase “the medium is the message” means the medium itself influences society and the individual. However, he overemphasized the influence of the medium, when researchers should still account for the influence of the content itself.

3. McLuhan’s famous line “the medium is the message” does ring true, but he downplays the importance of the message themselves. The content of the message can be just as impactful to an individual and to society as a whole. Take ethnic representation in media, for example. It has shaped societal perspectives of racial prejudices.

Marshall McLuhan may have not have predicted just exactly how complex the world would get in the 21st century, but for the most part, Marshall McLuhan’s crystal ball got most of it right.