schizo-phrenicaliciousexpialidocious

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"until phonetic writing split apart thought and action, there was no alternative but to hold men responsible for their thoughts as well as their actions"

pg. 32 McLuhan The Guttenberg Galaxy

According to McLuhan, writing split thought and action; that is, it caused us to think about our actions (because we had to think about what we were writing down). Before that, thought and action were one. a crude example:

you got so angry at a person, the thought of killing them popped into your head. And you act upon that thought almost instantaneously.

Actions were rash and driven by fiery passion. The alphabet was a shock to the system. That writing had to somehow capture your thoughts. There were no pictures like Egyptian Hieroglyphics to help the person understand the meaning. McLuhan claimes that the phonetic alphabet caused a sort of "detribalization" of man, in that he no longer had to rely on simply auditory communication (speaking-). Man could now communicate with people who were beyond the reach of their voices. Man could now be writing a letter to a distant aquaintance and shouting to his neighbor at the same time, all the while communicating two different messages. The alphabet opened up a new wolrd for man. He could communicate with those beyond his cluster, his "tribe". Communcation could involve either eye, ear, or both. Man was split into two, a sort of schizophrenic.

 The intital shock and awe, however, fades as those around you settle into the new technology as well. Remember how cool those phones with the keyboards seemed two years ago? Or Ipods? Now everyone has them. They are a norm in society. We've even had an onslaught of "i-products": i-case, i-dog, i-alien, i-speakers, i-pillow, and (probably soon) i-shirt and i-shoes. The new technology get absorbed by society very fast.



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7 Comments

Your title? Yes, i-do.

Kayla Sawyer said:

Phonetic writing was more difficult because were accustomed to codes of pictures that depicted its meaning.

Jeremy Barrick said:

When technology becomes popular, it becomes a fad. Fads pass quickly as new technology appears. I can remember when the cellular phone was this large, oafy product. They were not as popular as they are today. We only saw cell phones on television, used by fast-paced stock brokers. In the twenty-first century, everybody has one, well almost everyone. The phones got smaller, so they were able to fit in the pocket, and came in a variety of colors, they could do various things, such as text message, play music and movies. But, what's to come? That is a fear that most of us have, what's next? I didn't think that technology could peak any higher, when all of a sudden, BOOM! The I-Phone came out. Other cell phones don't stand up to the $400 cell/computer. It's all a phase.

The i-phone is a melting pot of all other technologies. I hope that someone everything doesn't morph into one bing electroninc do-it-all box.

Kayla Sawyer said:

It's not a phase, it's progress. They're improving.

Rachel Prichard said:

Your summary in your first paragraph were sum nice laymens terms on that part of our reading. It helped me understand a little better was McCluhan was getting at. I guess when it comes down to it, it is all a communication problem.
Maybe not even a problem, but just advancement.

Its interesting to see the trends within society and what brought them to surface.

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