The real job of the computer in the future is not going to have anything to do with retrieval. It’s going to have to do with pure discovery, because we use our memories for many purposes, mostly unconscious. When you can recall things at a very high speed they take on a new mythic and structural meaning that is quite alien to ordinary perception. So the computer… has, in spite of itself… revealed the knowledge of the mythic pattern, structures and profiles, all of which are quite excitedly loaded with discovery.
“Diebold Discussion Forum” with McLuhan and Mike Wallace (1966), published version of transcript, pages 8-9
Year: 1966
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan