Week 3: Understanding media - V.A.P.C. (Group #2)

Discussion Questions: By trying to create a society with similar values, are we infringing on human's quest for knowledge? How far are we willing to develop technology if it means losing the power of interpretation and free thought?

“Medium is the message” by Marshall McLuhan is a well-known chapter from his work “Understanding Media(...)”. In fact, he talks about the effects of technology on society’s structure, and the population’s reaction based on the advancement of the industry. For example, following the relaying of written knowledge from Tocqueville to the population of France, passing on information through this medium allowed society to share similar values and moral decisions. On the other hand, in England, using oral conversation as a medium resulted in different views and ideas from society. This brings up the interpretation that the “medium is the message” signifies the importance of the way communication travels. The medium, aka the tool used for the message, is what will determine the ultimate meaning: interpretation has the power to completely inverse the initial statement. This leads us to question how we present our work and our thoughts to the world. Having a more homogeneous population results in less conflict, but do we lose part of our authenticity? If we invent more technology to facilitate our communication and share our values, are we really helping out society or just creating a plain robot-like train of thought that leaves no room for conversing and learning through other people?

The “Hot and Cold” chapter of Marshall McLuhan’s “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man” explains the differences between the “hot” mediums and the “cold” ones, high definition versus low definition. Some of the main characteristics for the hot mediums would be their capacity to hold a great amount of data, therefore not needing audience participation to fill in the gaps, while cold medias are the opposite, such as the telephone or TV. These varying types of media will have different effects on the participating society. “Hot” countries develop boredom over time from getting used to these medias, creating anxiety over this fear of never encountering something new. On the other hand, the “cold” countries participate and play a role in the development of the technology. This brought up thoughts about our familiarization with technology, are we on an inevitable road to boredom? We keep innovating and get bored with our creations, technology becomes outdated in barely a year, so how will we ever be satisfied? To be happy with our creations, does it mean going back to our cold technology where we felt like we participated more? It seems like we are focused on getting our mediums more advanced, yet by aiming towards this we feel less and less complete.