TrueLife - Spotlight on Marshall McLuhan #1: Understanding Media, Culture & the Global Mind

Episode Date: September 21, 2020

One on One Video Call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_US🚨🚨Curious about the future of psychedelics? Imagine if Alan Watts started a secret society with Ram Dass and Hunter S. Thompson… now open the door. Use Promocode TRUELIFE for Get 25% off monthly or 30% off the annual plan For the first yearhttps://www.district216.com/TranscriptDigital Feudalis Speaker 0 (0s): Yeah, Speaker 1 (11s): Monday, Monday, Monday. It's just another manic Monday. I remember that song. So in my age HHA, I was like, I thought that was a Suzanne Vega. Remember that walk like in Egypt who was just another manic. Oh, that was out of the song they have. Hey, you guys do it today. You feel it. All right. I'm feeling pretty good myself. I'm hopeful that the rays of sunshine are basking you and they're golden glow providing you with a source of vitamin D and vital energy to kitchen up and moving on and put a smile on your face. Hope we have a great weekend and I hope you're enjoying the TrueLife podcast. We just went through the works or some works of the master storyteller, Joseph Campbell, who taught us about myth. He taught us to look to the past so that we could see where our future lies. We are about to get into Mr. Marshall McLuhan spotlight on the loss of Marshall McLuhan. My friend's, this is a great segue. We are going to go from the past, into the future. Hopefully we can apply what we have learned from mr. Joseph Campbell, to where we're going. I'm going to try and tie it together. What I think you will find what I hope you will see. What I am trying to convey is the circular pathway that we are taking. You see mr. Marshall McLuhan things. And let me be clear. Mr. Marshall McLuhan was a philosopher in the late seventies, early eighties. He had some very fascinating ideas about where we are headed. According to Marshall McLuhan, the medium is the message. What we mean by that is the medium. Be it a TV, be a radio, be a print and books, linear print. Platform's wherever it in, whatever medium you you use to digest you're information. Change is the way you think we process information from different senses and different parts of the brain. It's incredibly important to understand that mechanism of action, how it changes the way we think, how it opens up to us, a new field of vision, or it narrows our field of vision. You may have seen my video on my YouTube channel called the penny test. For those of you that are unaware of the penny test, I will run you through it quickly. Imagine taking a penny and you set it on your table and then you stand up and you look down at that penny. You can see from looking directly above it, that it's circular. It has engravings on it. It has a little design, a precedent. It has some words written on it. Some numbers written on it. You can also see that it has a bit of thickness to it. You can see the, the markings, the color, the texture. You can see all of these things when you stand up and look down at the penny from that point of view. However, if you slowly bend down, you bend your knees and then you, you bring your eyes to the level of the table. And you look at that same Penney in the same position and your at eye level with a penny. What you will see as a straight line. It's a good experiment to try with your kid's. It's a good experiment to try for yourself. And what this experiment shows is that when we change our point of view, when we change how we are given the information, the very same object becomes almost uninterpretable. It can lead to incredible abstract thoughts. When in fact the first view, it was a circle. We saw texture. We saw engravings, we saw all of the textual. We saw this size, the shape. However, when you get down at eye level and you really look at it, eye level, you will see a straight line. You will no longer see the penny as you know it, but you will see a straight line. According to Marshall McLuhan. This is exactly what's happened to our society. When you look back at the Renaissance and he saw all these great sculptures, it was great. This incredible verse that was written, that made you feel that helped you to envision the peanut a picture in your mind, wi in the Western society, you are currently unable to recreate that because of inventions like the printing press, because we have decided to utilize linear print, linear print Leeds, to linear thinking. He goes on to talk about hot and cold mediums. A hot medium is a medium in which the vision gets put in your head for you without any critical thinking. Think of YouTube, think of television, think of movies. You don't necessarily need to do any critical thinking. The idea has been put there for you. You do not need to think critically the motive, the idea, the lesson, it's there for you in a digestible format. However, when you read a book, when you listen to the radio, now you have to come up with the mental picture yourself. You're not given the mental picture. It's not shot into your, into your ocular membranes and then implanted in your head. The problem with that type of media in the problem with the hot media is that it leads people into very narrow points of view. And that's what you see today. You see these echo chambers on platforms. You see people not even thinking critically, but just giving a message. Whether it's a CNN message or a Fox news message, they are given their ideas. They are given their marching orders. Then they go out and execute them. Marshall McLuhan talks a lot about brain chemistry and the different centers of the brain and, and how we process all this information. Like to read you some quotes now, so you can get a better idea of what he was thinking. One of the most notable quotes that Marshall McLuhan is famous for his making the claim that we will be headed into Digital, Feudalism think of where our government was and the founding fathers game, whether it was in the sixties, think of the progression of our government. Think of where we're at now, almost ungovernable to think about the riots on the streets, the different movements around the world, the way people are reacting, the different camps that the division. Why is that? Is it possible that the medium we are currently using the social media platforms we're currently using are driving this new behavior? Marshall McLuhan believes human beings are the sex organs of robots. He believes that we are in a way devolving back into a sort of Feudalism, but let me read you some quotes. And then we're going to get into this topic of Digital Feudalism quote, societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media, by which men communicate than by the content of the communication ads are the cave art of the 20th century. There are no passengers on a spaceship earth. We're all crew art and its most significant is a distant early warning system that can always be relied on to tell the old culture what is beginning to happen to it. The modern little red riding hood reared on singing commercials has no object as no objection, two being eaten by the way, the business of the advertiser is to see that we go about our business with some magic spell or tune or slogan throbbing quietly in the background of our minds, historians and archeologists will one day discover that the ad's of our time, our are the richest and most faithful reflections that any society ever ...

Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scars my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark, fumbling, fear. Fearist through ruins maze lights my war cry born from the blaze.

The poem is Angels with Rifles. The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Codex Seraphini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. Monday, Monday, Monday, it's just another manic Monday. Remember that song? Showing my age, huh? I was like, I think that was Suzanne Vega. Remember that walker? like an Egyptian, it's just another manic Monday.

That was that other song they had. How you guys doing today? You feeling all right? Feeling pretty good myself. I'm hopeful that the rays of sunshine are basking you in their golden glow, providing you with a source of vitamin D and vital energy to get you up and moving and put a smile on your face. Hope you had a great weekend.

And I hope you're enjoying the True Life podcast. We just went through the works or some works of the master storyteller Joseph Campbell, who taught us about myth. He taught us to look to the past so that we could see where our future lies. We are about to get into Mr. Marshall McLuhan, Spotlight on Philosophy. Marshall McLuhan, my friends, this is a great segue. We're going to go from the past into the future. Hopefully we can apply what we have learned from Mr. Joseph Campbell to where we're going. I'm going to try and tie it together.

What I think you will find, what I hope you will see, what I am trying to convey is the circular pathway that we are taking. You see, Mr. Marshall McLuhan thinks, and let me be clear, Mr. Marshall McLuhan was a philosopher in the late 70s, early 80s. He had some very fascinating ideas about where we are headed. According to Marshall McLuhan, the medium is the message. What we mean by that is the medium. medium, be it TV, be it radio, be it print in books, linear print, platforms, wherever it is, whatever medium you use to digest your information changes the way you think. We process information from different senses and different parts of the brain.

It's incredibly important to understand that mechanism. of action, how it changes the way we think, how it opens up to us a new field of vision, or it narrows our field of vision. You may have seen my video on my YouTube channel called the penny test. For those of you that are unaware of the penny test, I will run you through it quickly. Imagine taking a penny and you set it on your table. And then you stand up and you look down at that penny. You can see from looking directly above it that it's circular. It has engravings on it. It has a little design, a president. It has some words written on it, some numbers written on it. You can also see that it has a bit of thickness to it. You can see the the markings, the color, the

texture, you can see all these things when you stand up and look down at the penny from that point of view. However, if you slowly bend down, you bend your knees and then you, you bring your eyes to the level of the table and you look at that same penny in the same position and you're at eye level with the penny, what you will see is a straight line. It's a good experiment to try with your kids. It's a good experiment to try for yourself. And what this experiment shows is that when we change our point of view, when we change how we are given the information,

the very same object becomes almost uninterpretable. It can lead to incredible abstract thoughts when in fact the first view, it was a circle. We saw texture. We saw engravings. We saw all the texture. We saw the size, the shape. However, when you get down an eye level and you really look at an eye level, you will see a straight line.

You will no longer see the penny as you know it, but you will see a straight line. According to Marshall McClellan, this is a. exactly what's happened to our society. When you look back at the Renaissance and you saw these great sculptures, these great poems, this incredible verse that was written that made you feel,

that helped you to envision, that painted a picture in your mind. We in the Western society are currently unable to recreate that because of inventions like the printing press. Because we have decided to utilize linear print. Linear print leads to linear thinking.

He goes on to talk about hot and cold mediums. A hot medium is a medium in which the vision gets put in your head for you without any critical thinking. Think of YouTube. Think of television. Think of movies. You don't necessarily need to do any critical thinking. the idea has been put there for you. You do not need to think critically.

The motive, the idea, the lesson, it's there for you in a digestible format. However, when you read a book, when you listen to the radio, now you have to come up with the mental picture yourself. You're not given the mental picture. It's not shot into your, into your, into your, ocular membranes and then implanted in your head. The problem with that type of medium, the problem with the hot medium is that it leads people into very narrow points of view.

And that's what you see today. You see these echo chambers on platforms. You see people not even thinking critically, but just given a message, whether it's a CNN message or a Fox News message, they are given their ideas, they're given their marching orders, and they go out and execute them.

Marshall McLuhan talks a lot about brain chemistry and the different centers of the brain and how we process all this information. I'd like to read you some quotes now so you can get a better idea of what he was thinking. One of the most notable quotes that Marshall McLuhan is famous for is making the claim

that we will be headed into digital feudalism. Think of where our government was in the Founding Fathers game, where it was in the 60s. Think of the progression of our government. Think of where we're at now, almost ungovernable. Think about the riots in the streets,

the different movements around the world. The way people are reacting, the different camps, the division, Why is that? Is it possible that the medium we are currently using, the social media platforms we're currently using, are driving this new behavior? Marshall McLuhan believes

human beings are the sex organs of robots. He believes that we are in a way devolving back into a sort of feudalism. But let me read you some quotes, and then we're going to get into this topic of digitalism. feudalism. Quote, societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media,

by which men communicate than by the content of the communication. Ads are the cave art of the 20th century. There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew. Art, at its most significant, is a distant early warning sense. system that can always be relied on to tell the old culture what is beginning to happen to it. The modern little red writing hood reared on singing commercials has no object, has no objection to being eaten by the wolf.

The business of the advertiser is to see that we go about our business with some magic spell or tune or slogan throbbing quietly in the business. background of our minds. Historians and archaeologists will one day discover that the ads of our time are the richest and most faithful reflections that any society ever made of its entire range of activities. Madison Avenue is a very powerful aggression against private consciousness, a demand that you yield your private consciousness to public manipulation.

Affluence creates poverty. The new electric independence recreates the world in the image of a global village. The more the data banks record about each one of us, the less we exist. I think of art at its most significant as a due, D-E-W line. a distant early warning system that can always be relied on to tell the old culture what is what is beginning to happen to it. Politics will eventually be replaced by imagery. The politician will be only too happy to abdicate in favor of his image because the image will be much more powerful than he could ever be. Think about that one for a minute. People can't get elected

without a good image. Inumerable confusions and a feeling of despair invariably emerge in periods of great technological and cultural transition. Appetite is essentially insatiable and where it operates as a criterion of both action and enjoyment, that is everywhere in the Western world since the 16th century, it will infallibly discover congenial agencies, mechanical and political, of expression. As the unity of the modern world becomes increasingly a technological rather than a social affair,

the techniques of the arts provide the most valuable means of insight into the real direction of our own collective purposes. A commercial society whose members are essentially aesthetic and indifferent in social ritual has to be provided

with blueprint and specifications for evoking the right tone for every occasion. Let us think about that for a minute. In this world of commodification and digitization, in this world of Facebook likes, in this world of wanting our image to be seen, we are taking our cues from an algorithm that doesn't truly understand us,

or doesn't truly understand our purpose. I want to tie this particular quote to a story told by the previous spotlight philosopher Joseph Campbell. Joseph Campbell tells a story. I think it was in Sri Lanka about a ritual for young boys. This particular culture, the children at a young age,

at the festivals, at the parties, and in their daily life are accustomed to the painted masks and rattles. These painted masks and rattles signify the demons, the forces of nature, the emotions, the unexplainable miracles, death. They symbolize all these grand feelings and the structure of their society. They represent necessary evils, unexplained evils. They also explain the methodology, the rules of the tribe, the norms, the social norms of the tribe. So up to the age of 14, the children are exposed to these masks and rattles, these forces of nature.

When the boy turns 14, the men of the tribe, they come in late at night and they grab the boy out of his sleep. And they're wearing these masks that represent the trials and tribulations. They represent fear. They represent death. These painted masks represent the rules of the tribe. The child has been conditioned to be afraid of these masks since birth. When the men go in and grab the child, they bring him out into the area, a common area, and they have a fight. The men attack the boy.

They fight the boy. And they let the boy win the fight. It's an ordeal. The fight takes place. for quite some time. And after the boy wins the fight, the men take off the masks. And the boy sees

the men behind the masks are not spirits, but they are in fact the men of the tribe. His uncles, his father, the elders. And as soon as the boy wins the fight and they take the mask off, they put the mask on the boy.

So they take it off and they put it on the boy. Fundamentally showing him that you are these forces. You are these forces of nature. You are the anger. And that now you're part of the tribe. You've been initiated.

It's a great way for the child to physically understand that he is in fact the person that is the forces of nature. Additionally, it serves the purpose of bringing him into the fold. You are now one of us. You now understand. why we have to do these things and we expect you to participate. I brought that story up due to the fact of our lack of ritual initiation in our time.

And I think it ties to Marshall McLuhan's talk about losing rituals and now having to be given a blueprint of how things work. Instead of physically acting them out, instead of manifesting these rituals, being part of it, taking part in the ritual with people we love and understanding that now we are, in fact, those same masks. We are the very forces of nature that we do not understand and at times hate. That's us. We are those masks. However, in today's world, we're lacking that. And so people must continue to fight that mask. And they put those masks on other races. They put those masks. They put those masks on other genders. They put those masks on a lot of other things when they should be putting those masks on themselves. You see what we got going on here? We're tying the past to the future.

And what Marshall McLuhan is going to try and do is show us how we're regressing. Let me speak to you a moment about this term called digital feudalism. Let me try and explain to you how today's platform marketing, how today's social. social media is in fact a lot like an older form of government that was used in the dark ages, mainly feudalism. Let me go ahead and define feudalism so that we're working from a similar point of view. Feudalism, it was the dominant social system in medieval Europe in which the nobility held lands from the crown in exchange for military service.

Vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the, the peasants were obliged to live on their Lord's land and give him homage, labor, and a share of the produce, notionally in exchange for military protection. So if that's the definition we're working from, let me try and explain how today's platform economies are similar. If you think about the way social media platforms give away or more accurately sell virtual land plots, it has strong similarities to medieval procedures by which English feudal lords gave away land to secure loyal vassals and tenants. In these terms, the price for joining, becoming profitable, or a full-time influencer, is an almost literal feudal relationship of dependency to the platform.

Further, the platform even sports a parallel to feudalism's hierarchical chains of sub-infudation where the Lord could distribute land as subordinates who could give it away further, creating further chains of mutual dependency. Look at the way, for example, Joe Rogan's on YouTube. He is living on a land, a virtual land, a virtual plot provided by YouTube. I know it's Spotify now. However, when he was on YouTube, he was given this platform. He was given this land to, you know, farm and to be successful on and to promote his product, his produce.

He was able to break that up further by giving time to people like Sam Harris or Sam Tripoli or the Weinstein brothers or whoever Joe Rogan brings on his show, those people are almost guaranteed to get a million followers. They're going to be put in front of so many people. They can't help but be successful. It's similar to the Oprah effect. However, that's one example of how they're the same. The economic model that drove the growth of the industrial society of the 19th and 20th century, it was capitalism, the production of goods and services.

What we see now is an economic model of the so-called information society, the control of information and knowledge, the control of distribution. A look back to the medieval times or dark ages shows us an example of this same strategy, which may even provide a roadmap for where we're going or the strategic plan of today's information platforms. This was the strategy of the church, of the medieval church. The church was able to function with an almost limitless power because it largely controlled the circulation of information. even the materials that represented it. The church was intertwined with the monarchs and noble bureaucracies in its functioning.

At times more powerful than both. An example is think about Google and Amazon and Facebook, YouTube, all these social platforms today, they are intertwined with our government and governments around the world. In a very similar relationship, the same way that the majority, of noblemen were illiterate to what the church was doing, the policies it was creating. It's the same way that our leaders and our politicians are ignorant or illiterate in the ways of coding, in the ways that the social platform is actually changing the behavior of the populace. And that's what gives so much control to these platform economies.

The same way the church had control, the distribution of information, the censoring of information. the limiting of information. I do not believe that the leaders in our society, mainly the boomer generations who lead large Fortune 500 companies or the politicians in Congress or senators or even the people running for president, I do not believe they have the mental capacity to truly understand the radical behavioral modification taking place

via neuroplasticity, taking place in the minds of all the people. Take education, for example. The politicians are holding the children in schools hostage right now with this COVID-19 crisis in order to gin up votes for whatever candidate or whatever team that they want. What they fail to understand is this political maneuver in education has sentenced millions of young people to surf them. The gap between haves and have-nots is, continuing to deepen at a greater pace than ever before right now. The government, the state has given up education to the social media platforms,

i.e., the new church, the new religion. I don't think that they understand that they are solidifying the end of both their parties and the government as we know it. You know, I'm always reminded, when I get here, I'm always reminded of the great chick Hearns who would say, this is in the admiral refrigerator. The doors closed. The lights are out.

The butter's getting hard. The eggs are cooling and the jello is jiggling. It's been jiggling for a long time. The government and education, as we know it, are over. The social media platforms, the new church is in fact the new authority. It's a return to feudalism digitally. Hence, digital feudalism. We are losing the future.

the ability to differentiate between dreams and fantasy. Dreams are something that, that happened to you. Dream is maybe your soul, your unconsciousness speaking to you of what you can accomplish. What is possible. A fantasy is something you construct. A dream is building something and inspiring people and sending out the right message. of fantasy is turning into a blue mermaid hermaphrodite that can fly through the air and breathe water. You see the difference there?

I think that is a good entry point into some of the ideas of McLuhan. It's complex and challenging and it goes further than anything you may have read in a long time. And it's thrilling and positively thrilling to see so much McLuhan thinking appear nearly a decade after his death. I'm really looking forward to exploring more. And I hope this is a pretty good intro for you guys to get excited about. We're going to be doing some deep dives and talking more about his ideas, where we're at, some of the similarities and projections. And hopefully this will also be a way for you to better make sense of.

what's happening in your environment. Like my grandpa always said, if you want a new idea, you should pick up a really old book. I love you guys. We're doing some more on McLuhan all week. So get out your pin and pad and put a smile on your face

and put your thinking cap on. I love you. Aloha.