1 00:00:00,050 --> 00:00:03,060 lighten though that the university has 2 00:00:03,060 --> 00:00:05,670 come through with payment on its own we 3 00:00:05,670 --> 00:00:07,470 should pause a woman to thank command 4 00:00:07,470 --> 00:00:09,420 most responsible for carrying through 5 00:00:09,420 --> 00:00:12,059 father John Culkin father would you 6 00:00:12,059 --> 00:00:20,699 stand up and take a bow one more thing 7 00:00:20,699 --> 00:00:23,760 which might make dr. McLuhan slightly 8 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:26,789 more understandable he is a Texan by 9 00:00:26,789 --> 00:00:33,200 marriage his wife is from Fort Worden 10 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:35,460 now it gives me pleasure to introduce 11 00:00:35,460 --> 00:00:39,480 our seeing-eye dog for the day dr. Ralph 12 00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:41,940 Baldwin who will be followed by dr. 13 00:00:41,940 --> 00:00:47,070 McLuhan topic open mind surgery dr. 14 00:00:47,070 --> 00:00:49,250 Malden 15 00:01:10,939 --> 00:01:14,340 Thank You Ralph Thank You mr. chairman 16 00:01:14,340 --> 00:01:17,640 mr. Jacobs it's good to be here with all 17 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:19,470 of you although I can't profess that 18 00:01:19,470 --> 00:01:20,640 this is the very moment I've been 19 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:27,869 waiting for the young the young I'm very 20 00:01:27,869 --> 00:01:29,670 indebted to Steve Allen for an 21 00:01:29,670 --> 00:01:34,170 observation he made long time ago the 22 00:01:34,170 --> 00:01:37,250 funny man is a man with a grievance I 23 00:01:37,250 --> 00:01:40,380 tried that one backwards and said all 24 00:01:40,380 --> 00:01:42,240 right then where there are grievances 25 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:47,459 there should be lots of jokes and mostly 26 00:01:47,459 --> 00:01:50,369 it proves that way in French Canada 27 00:01:50,369 --> 00:01:52,799 there lots of grievances and remember 28 00:01:52,799 --> 00:01:54,899 how General de Gaulle offered to free 29 00:01:54,899 --> 00:01:58,830 French Canada recently he offered to 30 00:01:58,830 --> 00:02:00,539 free the Scots - that didn't make the 31 00:02:00,539 --> 00:02:04,350 press quite as excited as it should have 32 00:02:04,350 --> 00:02:07,319 I didn't dream of freeing the Irish said 33 00:02:07,319 --> 00:02:08,630 I think there would have been a storm 34 00:02:08,630 --> 00:02:13,530 but the goal is you know a new 35 00:02:13,530 --> 00:02:20,160 lalibertĂŠ huh but as a result of paying 36 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:21,989 attention to grievances I've discovered 37 00:02:21,989 --> 00:02:24,600 to play quite a batch of jokes and I pay 38 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:29,940 special attention to media jokes like 39 00:02:29,940 --> 00:02:31,859 the one of the teachers speaking to a 40 00:02:31,859 --> 00:02:35,250 class and saying now class what does 41 00:02:35,250 --> 00:02:39,720 this century almost - Thomas Edison and 42 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:42,329 the hand went up and said teacher if it 43 00:02:42,329 --> 00:02:44,310 weren't for Thomas Edison we would be 44 00:02:44,310 --> 00:02:47,870 watching TV by candlelight 45 00:02:53,190 --> 00:02:57,250 the French Canadians raveling jokes like 46 00:02:57,250 --> 00:02:59,140 the one about the president of Canadians 47 00:02:59,140 --> 00:03:02,350 shell mmm chatting on the phone with the 48 00:03:02,350 --> 00:03:04,510 president of American shell couple years 49 00:03:04,510 --> 00:03:07,750 hence and the Canadian present president 50 00:03:07,750 --> 00:03:10,000 is saying Diamond Lee and we must have a 51 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,580 big personnel program in Sherbrooke and 52 00:03:12,580 --> 00:03:14,200 the total reorganization see whole 53 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:16,960 sheltered suite was a pause and voice 54 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:19,270 from the American end says hey 55 00:03:19,270 --> 00:03:20,890 well thank you thank you talking to 56 00:03:20,890 --> 00:03:23,250 white boy 57 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:39,540 it was quite it was quite recently that 58 00:03:39,540 --> 00:03:41,160 I began to pay a little attention to the 59 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:45,690 effect of radio on the huntys and as you 60 00:03:45,690 --> 00:03:47,430 know it brought in the Jazz Age and the 61 00:03:47,430 --> 00:03:52,500 jazz babies it brought in Hitler that is 62 00:03:52,500 --> 00:03:54,990 Hitler as a man who played it by ear and 63 00:03:54,990 --> 00:03:57,990 who will I was a region a retry belies 64 00:03:57,990 --> 00:04:03,180 man who had a new message to offer to 65 00:04:03,180 --> 00:04:05,010 the Germans by way of their Ruggeri 66 00:04:05,010 --> 00:04:10,320 gaining their tribal identity the other 67 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:12,270 night the CBS show on Germany was 68 00:04:12,270 --> 00:04:16,140 terrifying it revealed that the Germans 69 00:04:16,140 --> 00:04:18,779 are desperately seeking for a new tribal 70 00:04:18,779 --> 00:04:22,530 identity it was Ray Bradbury who pointed 71 00:04:22,530 --> 00:04:25,350 out maybe others too but I just happened 72 00:04:25,350 --> 00:04:28,890 to hear him say this violence is the 73 00:04:28,890 --> 00:04:32,250 quest for identity and whether you do it 74 00:04:32,250 --> 00:04:36,500 a lie John Wayne or Ella Negro riots 75 00:04:36,500 --> 00:04:38,640 whether you do it individually or 76 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:44,760 corporately the quest for identity can 77 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:49,620 only be satisfied by violence doesn't 78 00:04:49,620 --> 00:04:54,410 have to be punch in the face it can be 79 00:04:54,410 --> 00:04:57,750 violence violence one does to one's own 80 00:04:57,750 --> 00:05:03,330 nature self-discipline asceticism and so 81 00:05:03,330 --> 00:05:08,250 on it also forms a violent button the 82 00:05:08,250 --> 00:05:12,840 twenties having them become alienated 83 00:05:12,840 --> 00:05:16,640 from the visual world of goals and 84 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:20,250 simple directions began to live it up 85 00:05:20,250 --> 00:05:22,350 they got turned on they began to live it 86 00:05:22,350 --> 00:05:28,080 up in the Jazz Age that turned the negro 87 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:32,360 zone it was one of their great moments 88 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:35,070 not as great as their TV moment by any 89 00:05:35,070 --> 00:05:38,630 means I'm glad to 90 00:05:38,630 --> 00:05:43,410 the coming of this new tribal mentality 91 00:05:43,410 --> 00:05:47,520 to the 1920s inspired Gertrude Stein to 92 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,840 point out to her group her age group you 93 00:05:51,840 --> 00:05:56,190 were all a lost generation this is the 94 00:05:56,190 --> 00:05:57,780 condition of the twenty ones and over 95 00:05:57,780 --> 00:06:03,990 right now lost generation because - they 96 00:06:03,990 --> 00:06:08,940 were too old to tribal eyes to get the 97 00:06:08,940 --> 00:06:13,650 jazz baby message of involvement in 98 00:06:13,650 --> 00:06:18,780 tribal form the twenty ones and over 99 00:06:18,780 --> 00:06:21,450 today are much too old to get the TV 100 00:06:21,450 --> 00:06:26,070 tribal message of involvement and they 101 00:06:26,070 --> 00:06:28,740 are we are a lost generation in that 102 00:06:28,740 --> 00:06:33,390 sense expendable but to come back for a 103 00:06:33,390 --> 00:06:35,850 moment in the 1920s when those jazz 104 00:06:35,850 --> 00:06:40,370 babies reached the job plateau and 105 00:06:40,370 --> 00:06:44,010 fifteen years later they arrived with 106 00:06:44,010 --> 00:06:49,410 this total involved habit without any 107 00:06:49,410 --> 00:06:51,780 specialized directions or preferences 108 00:06:51,780 --> 00:06:54,900 off the old fashioned say John Wayne 109 00:06:54,900 --> 00:06:57,930 variety and then knew exactly what he 110 00:06:57,930 --> 00:07:03,780 wanted and when you put the tribal man 111 00:07:03,780 --> 00:07:09,470 in a decision-making area and he quickly 112 00:07:09,470 --> 00:07:12,300 reveals his loss of direction and and 113 00:07:12,300 --> 00:07:17,160 you get a slump literally when the man 114 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:19,680 of visual direction and specialism is 115 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:25,729 pushed aside by the electronic all round 116 00:07:25,729 --> 00:07:32,760 turned on swinging prison I got plenty 117 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:35,970 of nothing and nothing is plenty for me 118 00:07:35,970 --> 00:07:38,280 remember porgy and bess that was the 119 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:40,830 great message of the twenties when those 120 00:07:40,830 --> 00:07:43,260 people reached the job plateau we had a 121 00:07:43,260 --> 00:07:47,970 slump but it's nothing compared to the 122 00:07:47,970 --> 00:07:50,249 slump that we're just about at my 123 00:07:50,249 --> 00:07:52,919 five years the slump that's coming from 124 00:07:52,919 --> 00:07:57,419 the TV generation will be on a much 125 00:07:57,419 --> 00:08:00,169 greater scale unless we decide to 126 00:08:00,169 --> 00:08:09,799 operate but the the German world 127 00:08:09,799 --> 00:08:12,989 recovered direction and and identity by 128 00:08:12,989 --> 00:08:19,429 violence by war and got into action 129 00:08:19,429 --> 00:08:21,779 recovered itself and I suppose the same 130 00:08:21,779 --> 00:08:23,789 war helped us to recover our sense of 131 00:08:23,789 --> 00:08:29,989 direction in spite of the jazz babies 132 00:08:31,219 --> 00:08:37,948 but this kind of use of the Airways or 133 00:08:37,948 --> 00:08:40,019 the total human environment as a 134 00:08:40,019 --> 00:08:43,229 teaching machine a programmed aging 135 00:08:43,229 --> 00:08:48,240 machine is what it has become this 136 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:50,279 extension of our own nervous system as a 137 00:08:50,279 --> 00:08:53,389 total infant environment of information 138 00:08:53,389 --> 00:08:57,809 is in a sense an extension of the 139 00:08:57,809 --> 00:09:01,949 evolutionary process and instead of it's 140 00:09:01,949 --> 00:09:06,889 taking place biologically over many 141 00:09:06,889 --> 00:09:10,649 thousands of years it is now possible in 142 00:09:10,649 --> 00:09:12,269 fact it has happened to us in the last 143 00:09:12,269 --> 00:09:14,850 few decades it is not possible to 144 00:09:14,850 --> 00:09:18,209 traverse many millions of years in 145 00:09:18,209 --> 00:09:22,019 seconds by putting evolutionary 146 00:09:22,019 --> 00:09:23,910 extensions of ourselves outside as 147 00:09:23,910 --> 00:09:26,639 environments as teaching machines the 148 00:09:26,639 --> 00:09:28,350 man-made environments that are now 149 00:09:28,350 --> 00:09:31,529 Planetary are in terms of evolutionary 150 00:09:31,529 --> 00:09:38,370 development a greater step than anything 151 00:09:38,370 --> 00:09:39,870 that ever happened to our biological 152 00:09:39,870 --> 00:09:45,300 lives in the whole biological past just 153 00:09:45,300 --> 00:09:46,829 because they are environments they're 154 00:09:46,829 --> 00:09:48,720 invisible and this is a peculiarity 155 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:50,399 that's one answer the meaning of that 156 00:09:50,399 --> 00:09:52,559 message to the fish or the we don't know 157 00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:53,910 who discovered water but we're sure it 158 00:09:53,910 --> 00:09:56,100 wasn't efficient one thing that is 159 00:09:56,100 --> 00:10:00,059 always invisible to occupants is the 160 00:10:00,059 --> 00:10:03,059 environment what stands out loud and 161 00:10:03,059 --> 00:10:03,580 clear is the 162 00:10:03,580 --> 00:10:07,930 old environment where view mirror so 163 00:10:07,930 --> 00:10:10,630 that to the TV operator is the movie 164 00:10:10,630 --> 00:10:16,320 world is very visible TV is invisible 165 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:22,600 the TV TV world is an x-ray world TV is 166 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:26,530 an x-ray device the viewer of TV is 167 00:10:26,530 --> 00:10:30,850 being x-rayed at all times the radiation 168 00:10:30,850 --> 00:10:33,850 goes right through them the children get 169 00:10:33,850 --> 00:10:35,530 this message at once and they carry the 170 00:10:35,530 --> 00:10:37,000 message out into the schoolroom where 171 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:41,430 they find no resemblance to TV x-ray 172 00:10:41,430 --> 00:10:44,410 where subjects are laid out in little 173 00:10:44,410 --> 00:10:47,350 classified forms algebra and history and 174 00:10:47,350 --> 00:10:52,690 such no depth no involvement so our 175 00:10:52,690 --> 00:10:57,310 children are teeny boppers and the 176 00:10:57,310 --> 00:11:00,940 under-20 ones utterly confused by the 177 00:11:00,940 --> 00:11:04,900 discrepancy between the environment they 178 00:11:04,900 --> 00:11:06,400 encounter is entertainment and the 179 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:11,320 environment of the schoolroom this 180 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:15,520 confusion is on a bigger scale if you 181 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:21,750 like repeated in the Vietnam business 182 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:26,010 Vietnam is getting a Western treatment 183 00:11:26,010 --> 00:11:29,560 it's getting a thoroughly massive 184 00:11:29,560 --> 00:11:32,820 educational program we put our whole 185 00:11:32,820 --> 00:11:36,130 mechanical industrial environment around 186 00:11:36,130 --> 00:11:41,380 them as an educational machine this is 187 00:11:41,380 --> 00:11:43,770 what Julius Caesar did with the Huns 188 00:11:43,770 --> 00:11:48,250 Alexander the Great did war as an 189 00:11:48,250 --> 00:11:50,140 educational institution is the most 190 00:11:50,140 --> 00:11:52,870 powerful because it bill deals with the 191 00:11:52,870 --> 00:11:54,880 whole environment in action as an 192 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:59,040 educational teaching machine and 193 00:11:59,790 --> 00:12:03,700 somebody or other gets the message but 194 00:12:03,700 --> 00:12:05,860 what we are doing in Vietnam is using 195 00:12:05,860 --> 00:12:08,080 the old 19th century machine program for 196 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:10,360 the Orient what we're doing to ourselves 197 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:13,660 is orientalizing ourselves by our own 198 00:12:13,660 --> 00:12:16,570 latest technology instead of the Eldar 199 00:12:16,570 --> 00:12:17,170 trip 200 00:12:17,170 --> 00:12:22,319 the integer instead of individual 201 00:12:22,319 --> 00:12:29,369 specialism integral organic involvement 202 00:12:29,369 --> 00:12:32,379 the TV world and the lake world of 203 00:12:32,379 --> 00:12:35,529 electric circuitry automatically ensures 204 00:12:35,529 --> 00:12:38,160 that the orientalizing off the whole of 205 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:43,049 the human population exposed to it no 206 00:12:43,049 --> 00:12:45,699 when the Negro experiences our new 207 00:12:45,699 --> 00:12:49,629 electric environment he is turned on as 208 00:12:49,629 --> 00:12:54,220 never before black power just surges up 209 00:12:54,220 --> 00:12:56,910 as he feels this involvement and 210 00:12:56,910 --> 00:13:00,699 congenial hospitality of the electronic 211 00:13:00,699 --> 00:13:04,149 environment and he looks around and he 212 00:13:04,149 --> 00:13:07,929 sees the old literate mechanical 213 00:13:07,929 --> 00:13:10,540 environment which had always rejected 214 00:13:10,540 --> 00:13:17,049 him degraded him alienated him and this 215 00:13:17,049 --> 00:13:22,660 naturally enrages him he destroys it if 216 00:13:22,660 --> 00:13:28,959 possible the enemy India and China and 217 00:13:28,959 --> 00:13:32,169 Africa will do this on a much bigger 218 00:13:32,169 --> 00:13:34,509 scale as soon as they encounter an 219 00:13:34,509 --> 00:13:37,509 electronic environment up til now 220 00:13:37,509 --> 00:13:39,129 they're getting the 19th century not the 221 00:13:39,129 --> 00:13:42,879 20th the 19th century was the old 222 00:13:42,879 --> 00:13:45,279 machine age of fragmentation literacy 223 00:13:45,279 --> 00:13:50,199 and specialism the one that the liberal 224 00:13:50,199 --> 00:13:56,470 mind has never got beyond it's never 225 00:13:56,470 --> 00:14:00,249 studied the layered environment its 226 00:14:00,249 --> 00:14:04,449 literate visual detached non-involved 227 00:14:04,449 --> 00:14:07,119 the visual man is the only detached 228 00:14:07,119 --> 00:14:08,829 human being that ever lived on this 229 00:14:08,829 --> 00:14:13,109 planet all the other senses except sight 230 00:14:13,109 --> 00:14:18,279 smell hearing touch movement these are 231 00:14:18,279 --> 00:14:22,499 involving and they are discontinuous and 232 00:14:22,499 --> 00:14:25,499 unconnected 233 00:14:26,310 --> 00:14:30,870 only the electronic permits a total 234 00:14:30,870 --> 00:14:34,630 encounter with the discontinuous the 235 00:14:34,630 --> 00:14:38,920 disconnected the world of the 236 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,620 discontinuity came in most vividly with 237 00:14:41,620 --> 00:14:44,829 the Telegraph in the newspaper the 238 00:14:44,829 --> 00:14:46,779 stories in the newspaper are completely 239 00:14:46,779 --> 00:14:48,100 discontinuous because they're 240 00:14:48,100 --> 00:14:50,079 simultaneous they're all under one 241 00:14:50,079 --> 00:14:51,940 Dateline but there's no storyline to 242 00:14:51,940 --> 00:14:57,399 connect them TV is like that of course 243 00:14:57,399 --> 00:15:00,540 it's a it's a an x-ray mosaic screen 244 00:15:00,540 --> 00:15:03,850 with the light charging through the 245 00:15:03,850 --> 00:15:06,699 screen at the viewer Joyce called it the 246 00:15:06,699 --> 00:15:12,910 charge of the Light barricade in fact 247 00:15:12,910 --> 00:15:15,040 Finnegan's Wake is the greatest guide to 248 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:18,070 the media ever devised on this planet 249 00:15:18,070 --> 00:15:24,820 and is a tremendous study of the action 250 00:15:24,820 --> 00:15:28,589 of all media upon the human psyche and 251 00:15:28,589 --> 00:15:34,209 sensorium but it's difficult to read but 252 00:15:34,209 --> 00:15:39,550 it's worth it now as we move our 253 00:15:39,550 --> 00:15:41,529 evolutionary process out into the 254 00:15:41,529 --> 00:15:44,260 environment itself and instead of 255 00:15:44,260 --> 00:15:46,269 putting something inside the Darwin 256 00:15:46,269 --> 00:15:48,550 thought of man as inside an environment 257 00:15:48,550 --> 00:15:50,410 it never occurred to Darwin that it 258 00:15:50,410 --> 00:15:51,760 would be possible to program the 259 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:55,709 environment itself as evolutionary 260 00:15:55,709 --> 00:15:58,779 Darwin is a literate 19th century man 261 00:15:58,779 --> 00:16:01,060 and never he had no information of the 262 00:16:01,060 --> 00:16:04,240 electronic information circuit or in 263 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:07,680 total human environment of information 264 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:13,230 so where I are dejardines a little more 265 00:16:13,230 --> 00:16:16,120 aware of the meaning of the electronic 266 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:20,139 then Darwin could possibly have been but 267 00:16:20,139 --> 00:16:21,880 that's a perfect example of the rear 268 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:24,069 view mirror this Darwinian obsession 269 00:16:24,069 --> 00:16:28,480 with men's thumbs fingers and appendages 270 00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:33,990 as biological evolution 271 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:38,279 this had right in the midst of the great 272 00:16:38,279 --> 00:16:40,290 evolutionary step into the electronic 273 00:16:40,290 --> 00:16:44,220 circuitry Darwin has remains obsessed 274 00:16:44,220 --> 00:16:47,389 with this content of this old 275 00:16:47,389 --> 00:16:54,420 environment what we of course saying 276 00:16:54,420 --> 00:16:57,600 here is that if man is now in a position 277 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:00,540 to program the total human environment 278 00:17:00,540 --> 00:17:01,920 as a teaching machine for the first time 279 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:06,510 in human history he's also in a position 280 00:17:06,510 --> 00:17:11,608 to exercise some reasonable choice and 281 00:17:11,608 --> 00:17:13,679 preference over the programming of that 282 00:17:13,679 --> 00:17:17,608 environment that rational man may really 283 00:17:17,608 --> 00:17:20,880 get his first innings out of this 284 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:27,329 computerized university up till now he's 285 00:17:27,329 --> 00:17:29,340 been a kind of little straw blown around 286 00:17:29,340 --> 00:17:34,260 by the technology one of the reasons why 287 00:17:34,260 --> 00:17:36,530 we can now notice these environments 288 00:17:36,530 --> 00:17:38,669 generated by new technologies is that 289 00:17:38,669 --> 00:17:40,350 they yield to one another so rapidly 290 00:17:40,350 --> 00:17:42,540 that it's almost impossible not to 291 00:17:42,540 --> 00:17:45,360 notice the changing of the scene or the 292 00:17:45,360 --> 00:17:50,490 guard or something but no previous human 293 00:17:50,490 --> 00:17:53,460 age ever understood the effect of these 294 00:17:53,460 --> 00:17:55,890 human endeavors on the environment as 295 00:17:55,890 --> 00:17:59,190 they affected that age they always 296 00:17:59,190 --> 00:18:01,470 understood the effect on the previous 297 00:18:01,470 --> 00:18:05,179 age but never the effect on themselves 298 00:18:05,179 --> 00:18:08,660 the history of utopias is the history of 299 00:18:08,660 --> 00:18:14,700 rearview mirrors every utopia is a 300 00:18:14,700 --> 00:18:16,860 picture of the preceding age like 301 00:18:16,860 --> 00:18:23,040 Bonanza land there is never a utopia 302 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:27,710 that copes with the present any present 303 00:18:28,549 --> 00:18:31,140 man seems to have this built-in device 304 00:18:31,140 --> 00:18:33,799 of rearview mirror ISM because he fears 305 00:18:33,799 --> 00:18:37,470 this confrontation with the total human 306 00:18:37,470 --> 00:18:40,200 environment the only person who seems to 307 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:43,409 have virtually encounter and report on 308 00:18:43,409 --> 00:18:44,429 the new 309 00:18:44,429 --> 00:18:47,549 present is the artist and whenever he 310 00:18:47,549 --> 00:18:50,159 passes in his report he is at once 311 00:18:50,159 --> 00:18:54,149 branded as a cook because the present is 312 00:18:54,149 --> 00:18:58,230 always unrecognizable because it is not 313 00:18:58,230 --> 00:19:06,509 safe to look at when one understands the 314 00:19:06,509 --> 00:19:08,549 operation of these new environments on 315 00:19:08,549 --> 00:19:11,639 our human equipment it then becomes easy 316 00:19:11,639 --> 00:19:18,119 to predict and to forecast the changes 317 00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:21,799 that will take place in many levels of 318 00:19:21,799 --> 00:19:25,409 programming of even of entertainment the 319 00:19:25,409 --> 00:19:27,480 end of the star system is automatic with 320 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:31,710 TV the end of baseball it's a star 321 00:19:31,710 --> 00:19:33,809 system you can like prizefighting won't 322 00:19:33,809 --> 00:19:38,850 work for TV it's cool it's involving it 323 00:19:38,850 --> 00:19:41,480 doesn't permit the flashy blazing-hot 324 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:50,519 star cooperation the young kids today 325 00:19:50,519 --> 00:19:52,919 are not interested in stars less mothers 326 00:19:52,919 --> 00:19:54,749 brothers are not stars in the old sense 327 00:19:54,749 --> 00:19:57,240 at all but the kids are very interested 328 00:19:57,240 --> 00:20:00,119 in the techniques used by the smothered 329 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:04,159 brothers they're very interested in late 330 00:20:04,159 --> 00:20:11,279 processes how things are done and how 331 00:20:11,279 --> 00:20:14,100 things happened or do happen this 332 00:20:14,100 --> 00:20:18,330 following of complex processes is part 333 00:20:18,330 --> 00:20:20,549 of the involvement need of an electric 334 00:20:20,549 --> 00:20:25,139 agent Expo at in Montreal is a has been 335 00:20:25,139 --> 00:20:27,809 a great success for the simple reason 336 00:20:27,809 --> 00:20:30,029 that pulled the storyline off the whole 337 00:20:30,029 --> 00:20:34,309 show like a Fellini movie no storyline 338 00:20:34,309 --> 00:20:37,200 the storyline hots it up and leaves the 339 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:39,499 spectator outside looking on helplessly 340 00:20:39,499 --> 00:20:46,440 without involvement Expo is a mosaic 341 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:49,940 without connections just like page 1 342 00:20:49,940 --> 00:20:53,009 total involvement results everybody 343 00:20:53,009 --> 00:20:55,129 wants to go back again and again to 344 00:20:55,129 --> 00:20:57,059 follow through 345 00:20:57,059 --> 00:21:02,009 that pavilions activities the New York 346 00:21:02,009 --> 00:21:05,009 World Fair relative plot too much 347 00:21:05,009 --> 00:21:10,470 storyline too many connections no room 348 00:21:10,470 --> 00:21:15,360 for involvement or participation you can 349 00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:18,539 fill in from your experience with 350 00:21:18,539 --> 00:21:25,049 countless examples but this happens to 351 00:21:25,049 --> 00:21:30,320 be the reason why the examples occurred 352 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:34,919 and Expo is exactly like the TV screen 353 00:21:34,919 --> 00:21:37,649 it's a mosaic it's not a picture there 354 00:21:37,649 --> 00:21:41,369 are no pictures on TV even when you put 355 00:21:41,369 --> 00:21:43,289 a movie on TV those are not pictures it 356 00:21:43,289 --> 00:21:45,690 still comes through as a charge of the 357 00:21:45,690 --> 00:21:49,799 Light Brigade it's a an involving mosaic 358 00:21:49,799 --> 00:21:53,129 situation in which the storyline or 359 00:21:53,129 --> 00:21:55,919 connected spaces are not there the 360 00:21:55,919 --> 00:21:57,929 viewer has to supply them that's how he 361 00:21:57,929 --> 00:22:02,879 gets involved however I'm not trying to 362 00:22:02,879 --> 00:22:06,049 present any programs of action or any 363 00:22:06,049 --> 00:22:08,039 directions of action 364 00:22:08,039 --> 00:22:10,169 I'm really trying to suggest ways of 365 00:22:10,169 --> 00:22:13,230 perceiving the situation we have 366 00:22:13,230 --> 00:22:21,749 developed for ourselves I have them as I 367 00:22:21,749 --> 00:22:22,950 listen to Ralph 368 00:22:22,950 --> 00:22:25,799 I was recalled another communication 369 00:22:25,799 --> 00:22:29,009 starting about the two Navajo Indians 370 00:22:29,009 --> 00:22:30,470 who are having a little chat across a 371 00:22:30,470 --> 00:22:35,809 Arizona Valley by smoke signal and 372 00:22:36,710 --> 00:22:39,809 midway through their chat the AEC 373 00:22:39,809 --> 00:22:42,360 released an atomic charger and when the 374 00:22:42,360 --> 00:22:44,279 big mushroom cloud cleared away one of 375 00:22:44,279 --> 00:22:46,159 the Indians sent up little smoke signal 376 00:22:46,159 --> 00:22:50,990 to the effect gee I wish I'd said that 377 00:22:56,309 --> 00:23:00,940 the world of communication stories is 378 00:23:00,940 --> 00:23:04,420 very rich a sort of old-fashioned one is 379 00:23:04,420 --> 00:23:06,510 about the two goats at the back of 380 00:23:06,510 --> 00:23:09,549 Hollywood studio an old MGM studio where 381 00:23:09,549 --> 00:23:11,410 there are masses of old throwaway film 382 00:23:11,410 --> 00:23:13,990 and one of the goats kicked open a can 383 00:23:13,990 --> 00:23:16,630 containing picture of Gone with the Wind 384 00:23:16,630 --> 00:23:21,549 and having nibbled a bit eagerly signal 385 00:23:21,549 --> 00:23:23,890 to its companion to come on got a bite 386 00:23:23,890 --> 00:23:26,590 of this when the companion arrived and 387 00:23:26,590 --> 00:23:28,660 nibbled the other one say how about it 388 00:23:28,660 --> 00:23:31,270 no I don't know I I think I liked the 389 00:23:31,270 --> 00:23:33,450 book better 390 00:23:41,059 --> 00:23:44,249 Media stories can be very useful though 391 00:23:44,249 --> 00:23:48,690 for studying media and I heard one about 392 00:23:48,690 --> 00:23:52,049 the two mice in a nose cone moving 393 00:23:52,049 --> 00:23:54,600 around the planet one says to the other 394 00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:56,690 how do you like this kind of work 395 00:23:56,690 --> 00:23:59,909 another one says all well better than 396 00:23:59,909 --> 00:24:08,789 cancer research you can see the 397 00:24:08,789 --> 00:24:12,840 grievances sticking out a mile but good 398 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:16,590 old Steve Allen and his observation if 399 00:24:16,590 --> 00:24:19,230 jokes arise from grievances and 400 00:24:19,230 --> 00:24:21,840 irritation then perhaps they serve as a 401 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:26,070 release or catharsis of the same I'm 402 00:24:26,070 --> 00:24:28,279 rather puzzled I'm sure there's a 403 00:24:28,279 --> 00:24:32,639 reasonable cause I I haven't heard a 404 00:24:32,639 --> 00:24:35,369 story in the last a funny story since I 405 00:24:35,369 --> 00:24:38,450 came to New York two or three weeks ago 406 00:24:38,450 --> 00:24:42,779 don't hear any ah well it isn't 407 00:24:42,779 --> 00:24:47,610 repeatable that's like grievance for the 408 00:24:47,610 --> 00:24:58,889 day but I am have this uneasy feeling 409 00:24:58,889 --> 00:25:00,960 that I've released a number of these 410 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:04,740 atomic charges and predicting the next 411 00:25:04,740 --> 00:25:07,350 depression is not far off once our TV 412 00:25:07,350 --> 00:25:12,809 kids reach the job plateau they don't 413 00:25:12,809 --> 00:25:15,960 want jobs the next phase is the dropout 414 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,529 executive 415 00:25:21,799 --> 00:25:24,509 all the reason for that is very simple a 416 00:25:24,509 --> 00:25:27,210 big exact doesn't have a job he has 60 417 00:25:27,210 --> 00:25:31,860 jobs that's a role a mother doesn't have 418 00:25:31,860 --> 00:25:34,639 a job she's 40 or 50 jobs that's a role 419 00:25:34,639 --> 00:25:37,139 in the electronic age where everything 420 00:25:37,139 --> 00:25:40,610 becomes associate all activities become 421 00:25:40,610 --> 00:25:43,679 associated and interrelated you can't 422 00:25:43,679 --> 00:25:47,399 have jobs you can only have roles so the 423 00:25:47,399 --> 00:25:50,700 whole job structure is a storyline that 424 00:25:50,700 --> 00:25:52,619 just or an organization chart just has 425 00:25:52,619 --> 00:25:55,950 to be yanked out if business is to 426 00:25:55,950 --> 00:26:01,740 survive now the organization charges is 427 00:26:01,740 --> 00:26:04,590 as a dentist as baseball and for the 428 00:26:04,590 --> 00:26:07,940 same reasons one thing at a time 429 00:26:07,940 --> 00:26:10,529 baseball can't live in a TV age because 430 00:26:10,529 --> 00:26:12,480 there's one play at a time one pitch one 431 00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:17,129 hit one catch won't work in an all at 432 00:26:17,129 --> 00:26:19,590 once world one thing at a time won't 433 00:26:19,590 --> 00:26:21,899 work on the job front or on the sports 434 00:26:21,899 --> 00:26:28,970 player but them or the educational front 435 00:26:28,970 --> 00:26:31,350 I'm trying to be helpful here I'm not 436 00:26:31,350 --> 00:26:35,129 trying to just put on an act I wish 437 00:26:35,129 --> 00:26:36,600 somebody had told me some of these 438 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:39,119 things a few years ago it's been 439 00:26:39,119 --> 00:26:41,429 exciting to discover them but also feel 440 00:26:41,429 --> 00:26:43,409 I feel is a bit of waste for example in 441 00:26:43,409 --> 00:26:45,509 the PV generation there ought to be 442 00:26:45,509 --> 00:26:47,789 studies made and heaven knows we're 443 00:26:47,789 --> 00:26:50,249 trying to do a few of them this year 444 00:26:50,249 --> 00:26:52,080 there ought to be studies made of the 445 00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:55,369 difference between those who saw TV 446 00:26:55,369 --> 00:26:58,429 after they learn to read and write and 447 00:26:58,429 --> 00:27:02,309 those who first began to watch TV before 448 00:27:02,309 --> 00:27:04,350 they learn to read and write I think 449 00:27:04,350 --> 00:27:07,649 you'll find is a big watershed they're 450 00:27:07,649 --> 00:27:09,899 two totally different kinds of human 451 00:27:09,899 --> 00:27:13,789 beings are coming on oncoming traffic 452 00:27:13,789 --> 00:27:17,279 two totally different kinds the kids who 453 00:27:17,279 --> 00:27:19,259 learn to read and write before they saw 454 00:27:19,259 --> 00:27:23,970 TV had a kind of immunity a cushion for 455 00:27:23,970 --> 00:27:28,470 their senses that made the TV impact 456 00:27:28,470 --> 00:27:32,909 very much less and I think there are 457 00:27:32,909 --> 00:27:33,810 those exact 458 00:27:33,810 --> 00:27:35,490 dates and age groups ought to be 459 00:27:35,490 --> 00:27:39,560 carefully ascertained and studies made 460 00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:42,270 because the whole future programming of 461 00:27:42,270 --> 00:27:45,200 work and education depends on it 462 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:49,380 again Vietnam is our first TV war that's 463 00:27:49,380 --> 00:27:52,050 why people won't buy it it's into 464 00:27:52,050 --> 00:27:54,750 involving all the previous wars were 465 00:27:54,750 --> 00:27:58,860 fought on hot media like movies pictures 466 00:27:58,860 --> 00:28:04,670 are photographs and press and now people 467 00:28:04,670 --> 00:28:07,140 experience the war as something it 468 00:28:07,140 --> 00:28:12,360 involves them profoundly and they don't 469 00:28:12,360 --> 00:28:15,060 want to have anything to do with it it 470 00:28:15,060 --> 00:28:16,620 isn't a question of a trying to 471 00:28:16,620 --> 00:28:18,600 ascertain the pros and the cons the 472 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:21,860 rights and the wrongs of the Cong or 473 00:28:21,860 --> 00:28:24,600 whoever that is nothing to do with it 474 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,390 it's just this new phase of total 475 00:28:27,390 --> 00:28:29,840 involvement and participation that is 476 00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:36,300 unthinkable so the new gang coming on 477 00:28:36,300 --> 00:28:39,810 the kids who are really turned on will 478 00:28:39,810 --> 00:28:43,920 find that war much less tolerable or any 479 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:46,140 other war much less tolerable than the 480 00:28:46,140 --> 00:28:50,850 present generation no comparison here it 481 00:28:50,850 --> 00:28:53,040 seems to me that we do waste an awful 482 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:55,590 lot of time assigning fanciful reasons 483 00:28:55,590 --> 00:29:01,250 for these events and also in selecting 484 00:29:01,250 --> 00:29:05,040 very unfortunate and wasteful goals for 485 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:09,780 our energies when we do after all have a 486 00:29:09,780 --> 00:29:14,060 rather deep desire to work out a livable 487 00:29:14,060 --> 00:29:19,200 equilibrium for the human community we 488 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:20,990 do go to so much trouble to create 489 00:29:20,990 --> 00:29:25,590 violent upsets and disequilibrium I'm 490 00:29:25,590 --> 00:29:30,450 glad I know I'm not sure how successful 491 00:29:30,450 --> 00:29:34,380 a reprogramming could be in our say our 492 00:29:34,380 --> 00:29:37,580 life our lifetime 493 00:29:38,700 --> 00:29:40,830 I'm just going to check whether I have 494 00:29:40,830 --> 00:29:48,170 omitted some crucial funny stories and 495 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:58,620 then probably not but the no none none 496 00:29:58,620 --> 00:30:06,750 of them repeatable last thing I see are 497 00:30:06,750 --> 00:30:11,900 one hint there Columbus went too far 498 00:30:14,660 --> 00:30:17,640 it's like that similar observation 499 00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:19,290 Plymouth Rock should have landed on the 500 00:30:19,290 --> 00:30:28,890 pilgrims but in our present world there 501 00:30:28,890 --> 00:30:35,390 cannot be a Columbus how X t-rex ternal 502 00:30:35,390 --> 00:30:39,600 exploration has ended and the future of 503 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:44,240 exploration is necessarily internal 504 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:46,860 whether in medicine or in entertainment 505 00:30:46,860 --> 00:30:57,210 a film since I feel you are in good 506 00:30:57,210 --> 00:31:02,490 humor at this moment I am I think I will 507 00:31:02,490 --> 00:31:06,710 hold my dents like the arts and quietly 508 00:31:06,710 --> 00:31:11,630 steal off thank you very much 509 00:31:35,299 --> 00:31:45,239 dr. McLuhan you are a seer thank you 510 00:31:45,239 --> 00:31:47,700 very much doctor and dr. Ralph Baldwin 511 00:31:47,700 --> 00:31:50,070 you've added immeasurably to our to to a 512 00:31:50,070 --> 00:00:00,000 seminar and we thank you