I think of this video when I think of media shifts although it is a technology shift... but it still reminds me of the new inventions sort of bowing down to the new invention, McLuhan talks about how the new invention will suppress the old one. This week we read about how some countries are testing children on their internet skills. We know that the internet and digital technology is the new invention that is already suppressing reading, but does anyone ever wonder what will be the new invention that over-throws the internet? I personally cannot even begin to think of what this new invention might be.
I think the media shifts involve more assimilation than supression. For example, much of the internet is a fast and easy way to find stuff to read in any area you are interested in. Although the content on the internet may not match up to a good book, reading is still an integral part of the internet. Reading, in a way, has evolved into the internet.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, this evolution is not necessarily a good thing, at least on an individual level. As technology improves, our minds seem to devolve in a lazy spiral of letting machines do our thinking for us. For example, educated people in ancient greece and rome had far better memories than we do now (even the people with the best memories today pale in comparison to what they were able to do). On a large scale, of course, there is little debate about the positive effects the internet has on aggregated knowledge.
As for what will over-throw the internet, my best guess is Skynet.
Devin
Wow, I cannot begin to think of the next innovation that will take over the Internet. And I find Devin's comment about skynet hilarious. But if anything the Internet will just become more immersive as more and more people are able to get a hold of computers.
ReplyDeleteI think the commercial is interesting--visually--but the concept seems wrong. We didn't get rid of cars when computers came along! As McLuhan notes, we usually find ways to make the new fit in with old, even if some aspect of the old is lost or changed.I agree with Marquis that the connections established through the Internet are likely to be with us--and consume--for a long time, even if we are accessing it in different ways.
ReplyDeleteBAHAHAHA skynet? Thats awesome prediction if I have ever heard one! But I cant even fathom what might follow the internet and I am not really sure if anything ever could! I think there will just be lots of advancements with the internet, but even then I am not even sure what it could do in the future that it cant already do now! We seem so far in our technology I cant imagine what could be next.
ReplyDeleteMacey Flowers