"Critique of McLuhan’s Technological determinism viewpoint or lack of one thereof," by Mentor Cana (2003)

In the introduction of the 2003 article, "Critique of McLuhan’s Technological determinism viewpoint or lack of one thereof," Mentor Cana explains that it is difficult to find a starting point to critique Marshall McLuhan’s work since he has written so much and at times his ideas are difficult to understand. I appreciate this since I struggled with some of McLuhan’s ideas myself.

However, I find areas of this article difficult too. The first point that I’m struggling with is when Cana writes, “he (McLuhan) appears to be supporting the view that the human society is helpless and must, or eventually ought to succumb to the technological forces (para. 4).” I was actually under the impression that McLuhan viewed technology negatively and thought that society would be better off without it. In the overview: “Marshall McLuhan: ‘The Medium is the Message’ (2002), Todd Kappelman mentions that McLuhan was aware “that more people watch television than go to church (2).” I understand that this article was written for a Christian audience, but it’s my impression that McLuhan, too, was disturbed by this fact. Also, McLuhan talks about the anxiety that technology brings to people in his book, Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man (1964).

Also in the critique, Cana writes, “Media technologies are invented, created, and deployed by man (para. 4).” I think that this statement is referring to a point that McLuhan makes in Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man, when McLuhan admits that some people would think that the message of the machine wasn’t the machine itself, but what people did with the machine. However, he disagreed. According to him, “It mattered not in the least whether it turned out cornflakes or Cadillacs (McLuhan 7)."

Another point that Mentor makes is “the content comes to play a role once the technology somewhat establishes itself in the society (para. 5).” I’m not sure how I feel about that statement. It seems to me that mediums are constantly evolving. I’m especially thinking of the cinema. Some recent movies have focused more on the medium than the content. For example, one new trend is to show movies in 3-D and more films are also being shot with IMAX film.

One point that I do agree with is that the classifying media as hot or cool isn’t very useful. One thing that I hadn’t thought of prior to this article is that TV today (think HDTV) is very different than TV during McLuhan’s life. I’m still confused, however, by low participation vs. high participation. Although TV today is high in data, doesn’t it still sometimes require high participation? I’m thinking about game shows, learning shows for children, shows that require the audience to vote for a contestant. Am I thinking of participation incorrectly?

Works Cited

Kappelman, Todd. "Marshall McLuhan: 'The Medium is the Message.' Probe Ministries International, 2001. 25 September 2009 http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/mcluhan.html>

McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man. New York: McGraw Hill, 1964.

Mentor, Cana. "Critique of McLuhan's Technological determinism viewpoint or lack of one thereof." 2003. 27 September 2009 http://www.kmentor.com/socio-tech-info/2003/10/critique-of-mcluhans-technolog.html>