The only practical problem which remains today is that of restoring human dimensions so that a merely human order can become relevant and practical once more. It is obvious that, humbly envisaged, the machine could have helped to do this. But any rational hope in that quarter is now gone. The machine is power. And practical politics mean quite simply that the machine must assume increasingly its most powerful form. The shape and rational form of man is now irrelevant. The will of all society has persisted in this direction for more than a century. Enthusiastic abdication on behalf of the machine. Eager embrace of man when deloused of his humanity by technics.
“The Psychopathology of ‘Time’ and ‘Life’” (1949) in The Scene Before You (1955), p 159
Year: 1949
Chapters:
Dropout | He’s Doubtful | Human Scale | Living Unity | Technology | Tools We Shape, Reshape Us
Notes: [RSD unable to locate; cannot confirm the accuracy of the quotation]
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan