Marshall McLuhan - Digital Prophecies: The Medium is the Message

In the 1960s, way before anybody had ever tweeted, Facebook Live-d or sent classified information to WikiLeaks, one man made a series of pronouncements about the changing media landscape.
His name was Marshall McLuhan and you’ve probably heard his most quoted line:
“The medium is the message”.
Follow #MediaTheorised, an online project by Al Jazeera English’s media analysis show The Listening Post
Facebook: /AJListeningPost
Twitter: @AJListeningPost
Narrated by Alex Chow, student leader 2014 Hong Kong Umbrella movement
Directed and animated by Daniel Savage

[@francesmariellemondejar6026]

Love how the video made, big salute to the animators and the editors of this video!

[@RogerDarnell]

My copy of the book "The Medium is the Massage" is one of my very favorite things in the world. Someday I hope to understand it.

[@Drapnoodle]

Roger Darnell my sentiments exactly, great comment.

[@mirrorperson1744]

Streuth, we are what we partake of. The subject we think we’re object from is really one being split in-two, a kind of feeling-tone, or gnosis; The medium is the message. I remember mcluhan quoting Carothers and his study of preliterate versus post-Euclidean Neoplatonic literate man, He essentially found that within a few short generations the difference between the two modalities were shocking, even austere in some ways, I’ll see if I can do a dive and find the quote.

[@jameslong9921]

Someday you might learn to spell it.

[@RogerDarnell]

I invite you to look it up. This is exactly how it's spelled on the copy on my shelf. There is a great story behind why Marshall McLuhan went with the misspelling.

[@jameslong9921]

@@RogerDarnell My mistake, my apologies.

[@ChristianCaurla]

I love the animation. Beautiful. Poetic. Congrats!

[@aljazeeraenglish]

Thank you, Christian.

[@carternikolas2438]

Instablaster.

[@karlnorgaard9447]

I was exposed to this concept when CBC radio in Canada played a series of lectures. I was just a young construction worker with long drives in the evening. The material reinforced ideas I had about the world around me. I feel I was already recognizing the influence images, words, products etc had on us and on thier own context. Ive been applying this concept to my world for years and have found "The medium is the message" to be near biblical in how it rings true in every era.

[@HolyRamanRajya]

Very thought provoking and appreciate Alex Chow

[@johnsimonmusicetc7626]

We brought McLuhan into a recording studio at Columbia Records in 1967 and produced an album (with his approval) of The Medium Is The Massage with the help of 2 character actors and 2 sounds effects artists. All the words are from the book. The Japanese re-issue of the album may still be available. It's a trip!

[@Obtaineudaimonia]

Very well done. McLuhan was a very interesting (and quite prophetic) man.

[@matthewfrazier9254]

the last part “it’s just all now” sounded exactly like Alan Watts

[@aniketsk]

Thank you for sharing this... Amazing visuals and storyline.. 😍😍

[@snowpenguin6412]

Amazing video! Thankyou for sharing this information

[@Sorcerer99]

Great video. Amazing music!

[@lunarcalendar368]

This is why I don't regret subscribing, quality content.

[@Adinayla]

this video is so well done! Love it!

[@weihongyan]

amazingly made！the best of the best!!!! THANKS!

[@sctuz]

Amazing video

[@nadareyene]

amazing directing on the video

[@jantelopez5626]

respect to any news agency that bothers to inform the viewer HOW to view its content.

[@WillTheBassGeek]

"Everything happens at once. There's no continuity. There's no follow-through. It's just now" Something about this makes me think of new sociological methodologies such as Actor-Network Theory. I wonder if Bruno Latour ever read McLuhan.

[@BinaryDood]

great animation

[@lyreczka]

Can you please provide the name of the song?

[@morganthomas2242]

Flako - Gelis

[@lyreczka]

Thanks :)

[@uhhh6892]

I LOVE him! :D i wanna be like him

[@jpgrumbach8562]

Thanks but you must understand the consequence of music in connection with information.

[@user-ls7ox4cy8j]

What's the name of the background music?

[@ankurmishra3054]

gelis natureboy flako, available on soundcloud

[@mandi2579]

love this! what's the background music?

[@adrnjgr]

Gelis - Natureboy Flako

[@andrewmcluhan7386]

Not bad. Actually, pretty good for a two-minute summary.

[@DanaMariedotorg]

yeah they stop right at the most important questions!

[@TheCBC1984]

are you his grandson?

[@Maoki]

Are you related to Martin?

[@JoshRichmanDesign]

What is music? Who is the composer?

[@ixen9175]

gelis - natureboy flako

[@Laowei1]

​@@ixen9175 Many thanks! 🎶🎧

[@malachdorell6026]

is there anywhere i can find the song used in this video?

[@adrnjgr]

Gelis - Natureboy Flako

[@malachdorell6026]

@@adrnjgr thank you so much

[@adrnjgr]

@@malachdorell6026 😉

[@quangloc97]

He basically inspired "Everything Everywhere All At Once"

[@sukindiamuzik]

very interesting but i still don't quite understand what you mean

[@BazookaTooth707]

Sid The Great I've studied him for years now and I've yet to fully grasp everything all of his theories. I have a decent understanding, but I fully admit somethings go over my head. Try watching his interviews and reading a few books, after awhile you'll catch on. The basic premise of his fallacy is the idea that all tools we shape end up shaping us.

[@BazookaTooth707]

Sid The Great A two-minute summary could never give you all the information you need. It's a summary-it's a stepping stool

[@sukindiamuzik]

ReppeNThA707 ok thanks for the video

[@Butlero523]

An analogy that I would use based on this video is that mass media like transportation impacts the person beyond its fundlemental utility. For example the advancement in transportation not only helps us get to our destinations faster and safer, it changes the way we live, work, and view ourselves in the world.

[@sahidkhan6878]

rihan

[@666zombee]

Canadian

[@ihsanbajwa3974]

مارشل میکلوہان نے گلوبل ویلج کی اصطلاح متعارف کروائی ۔۔۔۔۔

dat english :D

[@ElectrologyNow]

He lectured to my class when I attended the University ... Also, the "music" in your video? Just get rid of it. It makes understanding you more difficult! You do not need "music."

[@Costikeke]

interesting accent

[@grandstandguy]

I don't see many people in these cases wondering how mediums can be used to harm man? Or to direct, control, and shape him by those with a more thorough understanding of this and other concepts/technologies. Even simple mind games I wonder if people truly understand and that they are done to you with intent every day. As a silly example that just popped into mind, say you have a man who hates a certain group of people or perhaps just heavily dislikes them. Whether he is good or bad and whether his reasons are valid or not are INCONSEQUENTIAL. This is what is meant by beyond good and evil. To be above such things and make use of ones mind to manipulate others around you. Anyway, back to the example. You can, using certain psycholgical techniques, show that man images of video of that group being brutalized. So much so that it would make any human recoil in horror. If you have a thinking mind at all I don't think it should be too hard to figure out that this man would now look at him self and those that brutalized. You could easily make it so that he identifies with the brutalizers if you wish for him or his particulare people to go to war or whatever the case may be (maybe just to not care about what is happening, etc etc etc). You could also make the same man identify with the very group or peoples he hated. Make him compare himself to the brutalizers, or make the minds of those around him to think in such a way to disable him. You see. No judgement. Just cold calculating evil (or enlightenment/superiority to the evil ones). I KNOW that there are people all over the world who understand humans perfectly and it is not too difficult to get them to do whatever you want. Hate, love, same thing. Many Christians today would nail Jesus to cross if suddenly transported back to that time (and definitely if having been born in that time). Not all, but many. Why? Most people are literally products. We all are in a sense. Online you see New World Order. Evil people want to rule by evil methods. Yes, this is true. Or are they massaging the message now to bring about resistance to something that never was going to exist? To get evil world order through false love? Belief is irrelevant about NWO, just using as an example to show how many sided everything can be.

[@grandstandguy]

@@maazkalim I don't think I've ever had someone reply to a comment one year later. First for everything.

[@heidiccvincentz]

Very profound this

[@Eddy-Cool]

@@grandstandguy make that two years later and another 'first for everything'.

[@grandstandguy]

@@Eddy-Cool By the way, that "Hate, Love, Same Thing"........I kind of was channeling that witch from the movie Dark Crystal when I thought of that lol. I think Jim Henson at least understood some of what was going on in the world.

[@lominaaa7055]

it's been 5 years now

[@prude270]

Should i listen to the voice or the music? Which is the message and why am I being disracted from it? That's not good journalism, it's an entertaining cacophony.