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In “The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man,” Marshall McLuhan

explores innovative human capabilities. The article explains how human’s innovation often

seeks to expand their senses. Several innovations can be attributed to mankind. Examples of

such innovations include; the radio, the alphabet and the wheel technology. However, the

downside of such technologies is that they worked in isolation, i.e., they were not advanced

further. The development of electromagnetism gave such innovations a link that made them

accord the collective social consciousness. Within the alphabet, the phonetic alphabet results

in the kind of consciousness electromagnetism provided to the innovations. The phonetic

alphabet separates the visual sense of an alphabet from the aural sense. Through the phonetic

alphabet, speech is produced through the interaction of the different vocal organs. These

vocal organs include; teeth, tongue and lips and can produce certain sounds. These phonetic

alphabets are responsible for turning humans into a civilized society from a "tribal" one. The

alphabets open up the isolated society in the past and make it more oriented towards

globalization. The increased interaction among different cultures and people from different

linguistic background have increased the globalization rates.

The article illustrates how phonetic alphabets have led to a form of consciousness in a

civilized society. Visual conformity in a detribalized literate society permits an individual to

have an inner life that is full of dissent. On the other hand, inner verbalization such as prayers

is regarded to be social acts having instantaneous consequences. This analogy means that the

phonetic alphabet is responsible for the different levels of consciousness between the

“detribalized” and “tribalized” communities. A brief history of mankind illustrates how

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phonetic alphabets have transformed mankind. From the Roman periods to print technology

development, phonetic alphabets have been fundamental to human transformation and

civilization. The alphabets have transformed mankind from the aural and oral culture

through deriving meaning from sound. Besides, the alphabets have coded sound as visual,

thereby deciphering its meaning. Presently, humans are in a post-literacy stage that does not

align with the “tribalized” and non-literate cultures.