A dictionary of Marshall McLuhan’s quotations

…all persons, whether or not they understand the processes of computerized high-speed data transmission, will lose their old private identities. For them, what knowledge there is will be available to all. So, in that sense, everybody will be a nobody. Everyone will be involved in role-playing, including those few elitists who interpret and/or manage large-scale data patterns and thus control the functions of a speed-of-light society.
“Ma Bell Minus the Nantucket Gam” with Bruce Powers (1981), published version, p 9
Year: 1981
Chapter: Identity
Notes: [RSD found in “Ma Bell Minus the Nantucket Gam” (1981), in Journal of Communication, vol. 31, issue 3, 1981, p 198-199]
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan