Says Marshall McLuhan:
"All media are extensions of some human faculty– psychic or physical."
With this, the co-creator of 1967's experimental book on the philosophy of communication, The Medium is the Massage, provides some interesting food for thought. On the following two pages he makes claims about objects and the human body parts from which they extend. The wheel from the foot, the book from the eye, clothing from the skin. And this is a pretty compelling concept: The wheel is like an exo-foot, a re-imagining of the foot that preforms nearly the same function but is many times and in many ways more efficient. Written text provides us vision of people and worlds we cannot see with our eyes alone. Clothing... well, you get the point.
I could not have seen Spike Jonze's Her at a more appropriate time.
"All media are extensions of some human faculty– psychic or physical."
With this, the co-creator of 1967's experimental book on the philosophy of communication, The Medium is the Massage, provides some interesting food for thought. On the following two pages he makes claims about objects and the human body parts from which they extend. The wheel from the foot, the book from the eye, clothing from the skin. And this is a pretty compelling concept: The wheel is like an exo-foot, a re-imagining of the foot that preforms nearly the same function but is many times and in many ways more efficient. Written text provides us vision of people and worlds we cannot see with our eyes alone. Clothing... well, you get the point.
I could not have seen Spike Jonze's Her at a more appropriate time.
First of all: excellent film.
The movie's about a guy that falls in love with a computer. But the best part is that almost no-one thinks that's weird. In fact, in future-LA as portrayed by this film, many people desire a romantic relationship with their Operating System, because it's the first artificially intelligent OS of its kind. It's the ultimate extension of the human: an extension of the collective human self. (Think of it this way: what if all people could think together, by connecting their brains together and sharing thoughts instantaneously? That's pretty much the internet, only the internet is slower than that.) The OSs in the movie link to each other, presumably by some network (the internet), and become a sort of single mind, both intensely human and vastly beyond the capacity of humanity.
The movie's about a guy that falls in love with a computer. But the best part is that almost no-one thinks that's weird. In fact, in future-LA as portrayed by this film, many people desire a romantic relationship with their Operating System, because it's the first artificially intelligent OS of its kind. It's the ultimate extension of the human: an extension of the collective human self. (Think of it this way: what if all people could think together, by connecting their brains together and sharing thoughts instantaneously? That's pretty much the internet, only the internet is slower than that.) The OSs in the movie link to each other, presumably by some network (the internet), and become a sort of single mind, both intensely human and vastly beyond the capacity of humanity.
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| This is how I feel about what I just wrote. |
The computers that exist today act as several types of physical and psychic extensions: the keyboard is an extension of the mouth or voice, the screen is an extension of the eyes. But the operating system, whether it's Windows 8 or Apple OS X Mavericks, is a multi-faceted human extension in itself. It's an extension of the mind. Operating systems whose functions are heavily reliant on access to the internet fit this description best, I think, as the internet is sort of an extension of the collective human psyche. WHICH IS AMAZING; Marshall McLuhan didn't even know the internet was going to exist (or did he...?) at the time he wrote his book and yet his idea about media and their extension from the human being continues to be true and relevant.
This might be the most rambling, confused thing I've ever written but I believe in it so hard right now.
My question, though, is "What now?" Where does this new environment take us? We're living in an age of incredibly tangible human interconnectedness, but also moving into an age of social interconnectedness between humans and technology. I'm talking Bicentennial Man, Johnny 5, C-3P0, etc. Not robots necessarily, but computers becoming human-like companions to us, as extensions of our humanity. Will we not fully comprehend the implications of McLuhan's claim that "all media work us over completely" until the media are just ourselves?
I appreciate your use of media in your post. For example, the link which leads to the Wikipedia article of McLuhan's book and the video of "Her" which helps bring your argument out. Because of the easy access, your audience can quickly learn and reference what you are posting about.
ReplyDeleteI also appreciate the use of a modern movie that is based off of modern media and looks into a possible future. McLuhan would appreciate such an idea and connection. You also reference sci-fi ideas which may come to a reality soon enough. Many don't know that much of today's science was based off of science fictions novels, books, and ideas.
Good job Kristian.