Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
That’s why McLuhan said that every time a new medium comes along—a new way for humans to communicate—it has buried in it a message. It is gently guiding us to see the world according to a new set of codes.
Johann Hari • Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention--and How to Think Deeply Again
Understanding Media
quotes from McLuhan + other writing that reminded me of his work
Agalia Tan • 2 cards
What is happening here is that television is altering the meaning of “being informed” by creating a species of information that might properly be called disinformation.
Neil Postman • Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Neil Postman • Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
His questions can be asked about all technologies and media. What happens to us when we become infatuated with and then seduced by them? Do they free us or imprison us? Do they improve or degrade democracy? Do they make our leaders more accountable or less so? Our system more transparent or less so? Do they make us better citizens or better consume
... See moreNeil Postman • Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
This type of discourse not only slows down the tempo of the show but creates the impression of uncertainty or lack of finish. It tends to reveal people in the act of thinking, which is as disconcerting and boring on television as it is on a Las Vegas stage.
Neil Postman • Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Is the decline of reading poisoning our politics?
L. M. Sacasas • The Analog City and the Digital City
Entertainment is the supra-ideology of all discourse on television. No matter what is depicted or from what point of view, the overarching presumption is that it is there for our amusement and pleasure.