A dictionary of Marshall McLuhan’s quotations

The Western psyche is a fragile, specialized product of the phonetic alphabet, which stands in terror of any snooping for its credentials, whereas tribal men would welcome such study. The tribal man says, “Let’s see what will happen and then decide to stay away from it,” whereas Western man says Let’s try it anyway and see what happens.” Or again. The suddenness of the leap from hardware to software cannot but produce a period of anarchy and collapse in existing establishments, especially in the developed countries.”
Letter to Ted Carpenter, January 6, 1972, in Letters (1987), p 450
Year: 1972
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan