A dictionary of Marshall McLuhan’s quotations

When one passes through the sound barrier, supersonic speed reverses the pattern of controls of an aircraft. The new combination hardware-software economy is now moving at supersonic speeds, and the men at the controls are quite unaware that the manipulation of the controls in the customary patterns can only lead to disaster.
“The Man Who Came to Listen” (1970), in On the Nature of Media (2016), p 184
Year: 1970
↪ Also at #1073, #7439
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan