A dictionary of Marshall McLuhan’s quotations

All you can look at in the rear-view mirror is literally the foreseeable future. Now, at the speed of light, there is no foreseeable future. You are there literally. It does not matter what situation you choose to consider. There is literally no possible future. You are already there the moment you name the situation. That is why in our age there are no goals. That is the reason for the streakers' antics: they are protesting the disappearance of goals. Where are we going? We are all dressed up with no place to go. We think we have taken all the right school courses, studied the right subjects, but now it all seems pointless. Where do we go from here?”
Man and Media,” lecture delivered at York University, Toronto, (1979), in Understanding Me (2003), p 293
Year: 1979
Chapters: Environment | Speedups
↪ Also at #2039
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan