In accepting an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame a few
years ago, General David Sarnoff [head of RCA] made this statement: We are
too prone to make technological instruments the scapegoats for the sins of
those who wield them. The products of modern science are not in themselves
good or bad; it is the way they are used that determines their value. That
is the voice of the current somnambulism. Suppose we were to say, Apple pie
is in itself neither good nor bad; it is the way it is used that determines
its value. ... There is nothing in the Sarnoff statement that will bear
scrutiny, for it ignores the nature of the medium, of any and all media, in
the true Narcissus style of one hypnotized by the amputation and extension of
his own being in a new technical form. ... It has never occurred to General
Sarnoff that any technology could do anything but _add_ itself on to what we
already are.
-- Marshall McLuhan, _Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man_ (1964)
years ago, General David Sarnoff [head of RCA] made this statement: We are
too prone to make technological instruments the scapegoats for the sins of
those who wield them. The products of modern science are not in themselves
good or bad; it is the way they are used that determines their value. That
is the voice of the current somnambulism. Suppose we were to say, Apple pie
is in itself neither good nor bad; it is the way it is used that determines
its value. ... There is nothing in the Sarnoff statement that will bear
scrutiny, for it ignores the nature of the medium, of any and all media, in
the true Narcissus style of one hypnotized by the amputation and extension of
his own being in a new technical form. ... It has never occurred to General
Sarnoff that any technology could do anything but _add_ itself on to what we
already are.
-- Marshall McLuhan, _Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man_ (1964)
Related:
- bug n.
An unwanted and unintended property of a program or
piece of hardware,
esp. one that causes it to malfunction. Antonym... - Pascal n.
An Algol-descended language designed by
Niklaus Wirth on the CDC 6600 around 1967-68 as an instructional
tool for elementary programming.
This language, designed primarily to keep students... - phreaking /freek'ing/ n.
[from `phone phreak'] 1.
The art and science of cracking the phone network... - phreaking: /freek'ing/ [from `phone phreak'] n. 1. The art and
science of cracking the phone network (so as,
for example, to make free long-distance calls).... - The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value.
Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular... - The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value.
Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular... - Dave Finton gazes into his crystal ball...
July 2000:
Government Issues Update on Y2K Crisis to American... - saga n.
[WPI] A cuspy but bogus raving story about N
random broken people.
Here is a classic example of the saga form, as told... - Well, he thought, since neither Aristotilian Logic nor the disciplines
of Science seemed to offer much hope,
it's time to go beyond them... Drawing a few deep...
