“McLuhan’s Equation” to understand the impact of Artificial Intelligence
"In a culture like ours, long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control, it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium - that is, of any extension of ourselves - result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology." This is how Marshall McLuhan’s seminal work, Understanding Media, begins. Marshall introduced the phrase, “The Medium is the Message” in this work which has ever since been a great subject of research and debate.
I would like to explore the phrase” The Medium is the Message” in the context of Artificial Intelligence, as a new technology and the ongoing debate of what it may mean to humankind.
So, what is the medium here? Is AI a medium? What is the message then? For the uninitiated, the medium isn’t really a TV/ radio/website in the traditional sense and message isn’t necessarily the content. I will quote a few passages from his work directly to try and explain provide context.
On “The Medium is the Message” : Understanding the "Medium"
The best way of understanding this phrase would be to look at how McLuhan looked at Light as a medium. “Light in itself is a medium without a message unless it’s used to read or describe something. In fact, McLuhan argues that the actual use of the light (for doing brain surgery or a game of night baseball) or “Content” is irrelevant because it’s the “Medium” that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action. The content or uses of such media are as diverse as they are ineffectual in shaping the form of human association. Each medium, independent of the content it mediates, has its own intrinsic effects which are its unique message.”
On “The Medium is the Message” : Understanding the "Message"
McLuhan explains the “Message” by taking Railroads as an example. "The message of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs. The railway did not introduce movement or transportation or wheel or road into human society, but it accelerated and enlarged the scale of previous human functions, creating totally new kinds of cities and new kinds of work and leisure. This happened whether the railway functioned in a tropical or northern environment, and is quite independent of the freight or content of the railway medium."
The Railroad examples is applicable to all traditional and digital media vehicles. “The medium is the message” because it is the “medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action.”
Anticipating and Influencing the "Message"
As we hear arguments from likes of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk about what AI will do to our society, it’s interesting to see McLuhan’s view on anticipating or preparing for the impact of the message and who does that.
“The new media and technologies by which we amplify and extend ourselves constitute huge collective surgery carried out on the social body with complete disregard for antiseptics. If the operations are needed, the inevitability of infecting the whole system during the operation has to be considered. For in operating on society with a new technology, it is not the incised area that is most affected. The area of impact and incision is numb. It is the entire system that is changed. The effect of radio is visual, the effect of the photo is auditory. Each new impact shifts the ratios among all the senses. What we seek today is either a means of controlling these shifts in the sense ratios of the psychic and social outlook, or a means of avoiding them altogether. To have a disease without its symptoms is to be immune. No society has ever known enough about its actions to have developed immunity to its new extensions or technologies.”
McLuhan then goes on to say that only Art may be able to provide such immunity. “The artist is the man in any field, scientific or humanistic, who grasps the implications of his actions and of new knowledge in his own time. He is the man of integral awareness.” “The artist picks up the message of cultural and technological challenge decades before its transforming impact occurs. He, then, builds models or Noah’s arks for facing the change that is at hand. “The war of 1870 need never have been fought had people read my Sentimental Education,” said Gustave Haubert”
McLuhan then describes the potential ways of how the impact of message can be minimized which I will let the readers explore themselves. I have no doubt that AI is a revolutionary technology the “message” of which we haven’t fully fathomed. Stopping Hassabis isn’t the solution, he is at best a catalyst for impending change.
There is a lot of content on how AI will transform a specific vertical or function, but then we now know that content is essentially useless. However, my belief is that there are a lot of potential artists(probably not the technologists) who are predicting the message, and the reads below are fascinating:
1) A 100 year study of AI: Reflections and Framing by Eric Horvitz : https://stanford.app.box.com/s/266hrhww2l3gjoy9euar
2) Social Impact of AI by Matt Mahoney : https://mattmahoney.net/singularity.html
3) The works of Margaret A. Boden, although slightly dated, seem interesting and are on my reading list.
I will continue to explore this topic more deeply but I strongly believe that Marshall McLuhan’s work and thinking has given us a framework to evaluate what the future will be for the humankind.