As Humpty Dumpty said, “I sent a message to the fish and told them this is what I wish.”
The message to the fish is quite simply that the thing of which they have the least knowledge is water. Man, when saturated with his own environments, loses all powers of perceiving them. That is why they become invincible in their powers over him. They alter his image of himself an of others, creating within a panic that resorts to violence as a means of recovering the earlier image and identity. Every new technology, i.e. every new environment, creates a new war or a violent quest for identity.
Dedication for Magnovia II, February, 1968
Year: 1968
Chapter:
Environment
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan