A dictionary of Marshall McLuhan’s quotations

For heaven knows how long, people have encountered each new technology by translating it back into the old familiar one. You know all the types of examples of that. The first motor cars were made with buggy whip holders. And the new automation computer devices are being made as if they were card catalogues. This strange habit of looking backward when moving forward is one that perhaps won't quite bear up, isn't quite consistent with jet speeds and electronic speeds.
“The Medium Is the Massage” (1966), in Understanding Me (2003), p 86
Year: 1966
↪ Also at #3296
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan