Sublime

Innis wanted to know what, in general, determines the location of ultimate authority in a society and what will be recognizd as authori-tative knowledge. His answer was this: That media of communi-cation, depending on their bias, confer monopolies of authority and knowledge on the state, the technical order, and civil law or on religion, the sacred... See more

Every new medium of communication changes communication, whether that’s painting or hieroglyphs or the alphabet or television. Each medium creates a new orientation for thought, expression, and sensibility.

It seems distant now, but once upon a time the Internet was going to save us from the menace of TV. Since the late fifties, TV has had a special role, both as the country’s dominant medium, in audience and influence, and as a bête noire for a certain strain of American intellectuals, who view it as the root of all evil. In “Amusing Ourselves to... See more

Only knowledge that conformed to the concerns and cultural predisposi-tions of the dominant medium would persist. In a written tradition, knowledge must be technical, secular, and future-oriented for it to be defined as legitimate or recognized as valid