A dictionary of Marshall McLuhan’s quotations

The quality of the instantaneous in the replay of experience is somewhat like the difference between cognition and recognition. Recognition may come somewhat after the event and is a form of awareness in which we say: "Oh, I didn't realize it was you" or "Oh, now I see what it's all about." Recognition is an altogether higher order of awareness from cognition, and yet it is now taken for granted as a normal feature of daily life in the electric age.
“At the Moment of Sputnik” (1974), in Marshall McLuhan: The Man and His Message (1989), p 80
Year: 1974
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan