The reversal aspect of the tetrad is succinctly exemplified in a maxim from information theory: data overload equals pattern recognition. Any word of process or form, pushed to the limit of its potential, reverses its characteristics and becomes a complementary form, just as the airplane, pushed to the limit of its potential, reverses its controls when it passes the “sound barrier.” Money (hardware), when pushed to its limit, reverses into the lack of money, that is credit (software or information), and the credit card. At high speed or in great quantity, the motor car reverts to nautical form, and traffic (or a crowd) “flows.”
Laws of Media: The New Science with Eric McLuhan, (1988), pp 107-108
Year: 1988
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan