RE: Automation: Learning a Living (Marshall McLuhan, 1964) ryan griffis <ryan.grif...@gmail.com> "michael gurstein" <gurst...@gmail.com>
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 11:49:14 -0500 From: ryan griffis <ryan.grif...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: Automation: Learning a Living (Marshall McLuhan,, 1964) On 7/22/14, 10:44 AM, newme...@aol.com wrote: > This is a logic that appears plainly enough > in the difference between firelight and electric light, for example. > Persons grouped around a fire or a candle for warmth or light are > less able to pursue independent thoughts, or even tasks, than people > supplied with electric light. In the same way, the social and > educational patterns latent in automation are those of self-employment > and artistic autonomy. Panic about automation as a threat to > uniformity on a world scale is the projection into the future of > mechanical standardization and specialism, which are now past. I'd love to see McLuhan's empirical research that shows that "fire people" have less independent thoughts than "tv people". Although, personally, I do feel a little less "independent" when I'm camping. Do you think McLuhan was eating a ham sandwich when he wrote this? Someone should tell these folks to stop panicking over automation... their fears (and illnesses) are obviously anachronistic. http://www.motherjones.com/print/115121 Best, Ryan - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: "michael gurstein" <gurst...@gmail.com> Subject: RE: Automation: Learning a Living (Marshall McLuhan, 1964) Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 07:55:35 +0530 Very, very prescient of McLuhan but his otherwise extremely insightful analysis missed one element--the political economic context into which these technology induced changes would be introduced and which would both influence and be influenced by. To point to only one element of this--``debt`` and it`s various manifestations in the form of student debt, mortgages, and other forms of indenture--as means for ensuring the triumph of the quotidian over the numinous. M -----Original Message----- From: nettime-l-boun...@mail.kein.org [mailto:nettime-l-boun...@mail.kein.org] On Behalf Of newme...@aol.com Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2014 12:14 AM To: nettim...@kein.org Subject: <nettime> Automation: Learning a Living (Marshall McLuhan, 1964) [Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Marshall McLuhan, 1964, pp. 357-59, final chapter, the last four paragraphs] Automation: Learning a Living <...> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org