The Machine as the Fragmentary Extension of the Self
Source: http://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/mcluhan.mediummessage.pdf
Philosopher and public intellectual Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the message” back in 1967 in his media theory book titled Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. In his first chapter, McLuhan mentions the idea of the lightbulb as an example of a medium that shapes the actions and associations among humans. The lightbulb, if considered to be an extension of man, would possibly considered an extension of the eye. However, if we think of humans as information systems instead of organisms, the lightbulb becomes a method of moving information just as IBM did not make office equipment but information processors. Thus, technology is an extension of the human, as McLuhan emphasizes, and technology is the medium (and the message).
As an extension of man, though, the machine, according to McLuhan, is fragmentary and superficial in its pattern of human relationships. In this case, McLuhan uses the example of the railway system. The railroad did not bring about new ideas in transportation such as the wheel, but it did accelerate the way of transportation. This in turn led to a society whose government and politics were based around a railroad system. With the invention of the airplane, though, the railroad has become somewhat dissolved as a medium, thus dissolving the politics and associations of the city.
This development of new technology resulting in the dissolving of another greatly impacts networks. If we were to look at the transportation network based on the railroad system, the train can only got to where there are tracks. However, the airplane, relying on air for travel, allows the plane to go theoretically anywhere. As a result, the airplane’s network of transportation becomes much larger than that of the train’s network.
If we look at three types of information networks like McLuhan’s examples, we can see similar results. For instance, letter-writing was once a common form of communication that could relay information from one party to another. The computer made communication and information travel accelerate though the use of email to relay information from one party to another. Then, text messaging came into play more recently where people can instantly communicate and be notified of a communication immediately through sound. Relaying information through words is not new. But with the development of new technology, the speed at which the networks operate changes dramatically. Letter-writing, because of it’s slow nature, tended to have much more content within the letter. Text messaging, due to its convenience, sends information low in content much more often. Thus, this change in technology results in a faster information network with more connections since it is now much easier to receive information from multiple locations in virtually the same amount of time regardless of distance from the other party.
As previously stated, humans can be considered information systems as well as organisms. When looking at humans as organisms, the machine as an extension of the self thus relates back to a more social perspective. This means that humans make both social and information networks by default. If technology shapes us, then we are malleable machines that relay information to each other. And if we shape technology, then technology becomes the social network of communication between us. Therefore, the concept of social and information networks becomes permeable in nature. Technology creates and destroys relationships just as people send and do not send information.