Digital McLuhan

Marshall McLuhan, whose insights about the impact of media have been compared in importance to the work of Darwin, Einstein, and Freud, died at the doorstep of the digital age in 1980. Paul Levinson - author of "The Soft Edge" - delves into the lessons McLuhan holds for the new millennium. This text highlights and explains the prophetic nature of McLuhan's theories. Levinson shows us why and how the "Wired" generation is now turning to McLuhan's work to better understand a global village in a digital age. We see how the Internet, in which every computer is a centre for producing as well as obtaining information, is the true embodiment of McLuhan's vision of decentralization. Levinson explores the consequences of this revolution on everything from publishing to politics, where the "gatekeepers" of old are giving way to new modes of doing business. The text explores the economic, psychological, social, and cultural consequences of the digital revolution - buttressed by examples from headlines and motion pictures and web sites, informed by personal correspondence from McLuhan, and supported by a grasp of media theory and philosophy that spans the centuries.