Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (New American Library, 1964)

Marshall McLuhan · c. 1964

Marshall McLuhan did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this book, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The book prints chapter headings its extracted text does not preserve, so the claims below are in the book's order but not grouped. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Technology changes our patterns of perception, not our opinions, and meets no resistance

Their wordsThe effects of technology do not occur at the level of opinions or concepts, but alter sense ratios or patterns of perception steadily and without any resistance.
Our reading
Electric technology has extended our nervous system into a global embrace

Their wordsToday, 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.
Our reading
Only the serious artist can encounter technology with impunity

Their wordsThe serious artist is the only person able to encounter technology with impunity, just because he is an expert aware of the changes in sense perception.
Our reading
A hot medium extends one single sense in high definition

Their wordsA hot medium is one that extends one single sense in "high definition."
Our reading
The medium is the message

Their wordsIn a culture like ours, long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control, it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium is the message.
Our reading
The artist is whoever grasps the implications of new knowledge in their own time

Their wordsThe artist is the man in any field, scientific or humanistic, who grasps the implications of his actions and of new knowledge in his own time.
Our reading
Games are popular art, a collective reaction to a culture's main drive

Their wordsGames are popular art, collective, social reactions to the main drive or action of any culture.
Our reading
The electric light is pure information

Their wordsThe electric light is pure information.

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The other pieces are the ones whose claims are worded most like this one's. That measures language, not agreement: they may argue the opposite.