A dictionary of Marshall McLuhan’s quotations

[Innis] had discovered a means of using historical situations as a lab in which to test the character of technology in the shaping of cultures. Innis taught us how to use the bias of culture and communication as an instrument of research. By directing attention to the bias or distorting power of the dominant imagery and technology of any culture, he showed us how to understand cultures.
Introduction to 1972 edition of Innis’s Empire and Communication, p viii -- entitled the opening chapter of The Bias of Communication, “Minerva’s Owl”
Year: 1972
↪ Also at #3019
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan