Summary

The purpose of this essay is not to present an academic claim, but to convey my thoughts based entirely on my personal readings. To avoid any confusion, I will begin this section by referring to the thought process I will employ in subsequent sections.

Introduction

Media is a message. Today, when you pick up a McLuhan book, you will realize that works written in the 1960s remain relevant even today. In addition, you may find that some sentences seem as if they were written directly for today.

When things go far enough, humankind thus becomes a creature of its own machine.
-Excerpt from the book "Media Message, Media is the Message"

To be a creature of one's own machine is a very bold statement for the technologies of that time, because the most common technologies were radio and television. Home computers weren't even mentioned. And in a time when technologies were so limited, McLuhan was able to make incredible statements that encompass even the present and the future.

Media is the message. This is McLuhan's most important and well-known theory. However, when you look at the subheadings used to construct this two-word sentence, almost every subheading is serious enough to be the main subject of a study in itself. The subheading I will address is the one where he talks about media being an extension of the physical and spiritual aspects of humanity.

All media is an extension of certain physical and mental faculties of human beings. The wheel is an extension of the foot; the book is an extension of the eye; clothing is an extension of the skin…
-Excerpt from the book "Media Message, Media is the Message"

Upon reflection on this quote, it becomes clear that everything humanity has conceived and produced today stems from one or more of its own characteristics. This explains why McLuhan's thoughts and work are timeless. The idea that what humanity has produced from yesterday to today is essentially an interpretation of a part of itself makes it easier for us to make more consistent predictions about the future.

In this context, my own thought and conclusion is this: The virtual world we inhabit today is an extension of the brain. And the world we inhabit today is an extension of the virtual world.

The Virtual World is an Extension of the Brain

About 100 years ago, an archivist would meticulously examine tons of documents, sorting and organizing them according t...

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