Marshall McLuhan was an educator, philosopher and scholar who was a pioneer in the study of media theory. He coined many phrases that we use today such as "global village" and "the medium is the message" and emphasized the role of media as superlative to any content carried by that media. In addition, he wrote about "hot" and "cold" media and the relationship of the audience to popular media.
Please follow this link for an interview with Marshall McLuhan in 1967:
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I never got around to reading his works, but they are still on my list. As is Baudrillard and Foucault, who touch upon similar themes. It's interesting how he was able to predict through linear induction what is happening moreso today with the Internet and a cyber-culture. Perhaps his message, spread through the medium, shaped the future into what it is. I read once someone who said 'the best way to predict the future is to create it.' I have fleeting moments of clarity about his statements, but not always on the same wavelength (so to speak). Today, in our world, there are vast amounts of sensory input to collate and assimilate; I am more lost for having heard these things than before, even when my mind has adapted to this barrage of real-time and editted information feed. There is no static point of view, we are constantly shifting and immersed in a game where we don't fully know the rules, but have to play anyway. It's a little disconcerting, and exciting at the same time.
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