WHO WAS THE

GREATER CANADIAN?
Marshall McLuhan
VS
Dr. David Suzuki

Info On Marshall McLuhan

Herbert Marshall McLuhan, CC (July 21,

1911 December 31, 1980) was a
Canadian philosopher of communication
theory and a public intellectual. His work
is viewed as one of the cornerstones of
the study of media theory, as well as
having practical applications in the
advertising and television industries.

McLuhan is known for coining the

expressions the medium is the message
and the global village, and for predicting
the World Wide Web almost thirty years
before it was invented. Although he was a
fixture in media discourse in the late
1960s, his influence began to wane in the
early 1970s. In the years after his death,
he continued to be a controversial figure
in academic circles. With the arrival of the
internet, however, interest in his work
and perspective has renewed

His works The Mechanical Bride (1951), The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962), Understanding
Media (1964). And his theory of The Global Village, In the early 1960s, McLuhan wrote that
the visual, individualistic print culture would soon be brought to an end by what he called
"electronic interdependence": when electronic media replace visual culture with aural/oral
culture. In this new age, humankind will move from individualism and fragmentation to a
collective identity, with a "tribal base." McLuhan's most widely known work, Understanding
Media: The Extensions of Man (1964), is a pioneering study in media theory. Dismayed by
the way people approached and used new media such as television, McLuhan famously
argued that in the modern world "we live mythically and integrally ... but continue to think in
the old, fragmented space and time patterns of the pre-electric age."

McLuhan proposed that media themselves, not the content they carry, should be the
focus of studypopularly quoted as "the medium is the message". McLuhan's insight was
that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role not by the content delivered
over the medium, but by the characteristics of the medium itself. McLuhan pointed to the
light bulb as a clear demonstration of this concept. A light bulb does not have content in
the way that a newspaper has articles or a television has programs, yet it is a medium
that has a social effect; that is, a light bulb enables people to create spaces during
nighttime that would otherwise be enveloped by darkness. He describes the light bulb as
a medium without any content. McLuhan states that "a light bulb creates an environment
by its mere presence." More controversially, he postulated that content had little effect on
societyin other words, it did not matter if television broadcasts children's shows or
violent programming, to illustrate one examplethe effect of television on society would
be identical. He noted that all media have characteristics that engage the viewer in
different ways; for instance, a passage in a book could be reread at will, but a movie had
to be screened again in its entirety to study any individual part of it.

McLuhan contends that all

media in and of themselves
and regardless of the messages
they communicate exert a
compelling influence on man
and society.

Info On Dr. David Suzuki

David Takayoshi Suzuki, CC OBC (born

March 24, 1936) is a Canadian
academic, science broadcaster and
environmental activist. Suzuki earned a
Ph.D. in zoology from the University of
Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in
the genetics department at the
University of British Columbia from
1963 until his retirement in 2001. Since
the mid-1970s, Suzuki has been known
for his TV and radio series,
documentaries and books about nature
and the environment. He is best known
as host of the popular and long-running
CBC Television science program, The
Nature of Things, seen in over forty
nations. He is also well known for
criticizing governments for their lack of
action to protect the environment.

A long time activist to reverse global

climate change, Suzuki co-founded
the David Suzuki Foundation in
1990, to work "to find ways for
society to live in balance with the
natural world that does sustain us."
The Foundation's priorities are:
oceans and sustainable fishing,
climate change and clean energy,
sustainability, and Suzuki's Nature
Challenge. The Foundation also
works on ways to help protect the
oceans from large oil spills such as
the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Suzuki has also served as a director
of the Canadian Civil Liberties
Association from 1982 to 1987.
Suzuki was awarded the Right
Livelihood Award in 2009. His 2011
book, The Legacy, won the Nautilus
Book Award. He is a Companion of
the Order of Canada. In 2004, David
Suzuki ranked fifth on the list of final
nominees in a CBC Television series
that asked viewers to select the
greatest Canadian of all time. Suzuki
was the top finalist still alive

Marshall McLuhan
McLuhan predicted
the world wide web
30 years before it
was made.
philosopher of
communication
theory and a public
intellectual.

Dr. David Suzuki

A known
environmental activist
Suzuki earned a Ph.D.
in zoology from the
University of Chicago
And was a professor
in the genetics
department at the
University of British
Columbia.

Conclusion
Marshall McLuhan believed that as technology grew the more we
become more involved with each other online going from a individual
who interacts with others outside, to an electronic interdependence
were people rely on computers, cell phones, etc.
Where David Suzuki a known environmental activist, spent his entire
career fighting for the environment and endangered species, But when it
comes to the environment he does not practice what he preaches.

Questions
1)

What is the message that McLuhan stated. The

media is the message?

2)

How many years do you think that Our society will

stop interacting with each other. And be more
online for media, internet, commutations by video.

3)

And Why after 30 years interest in his work and

perspective has renewed?