What Say Ye, Marshall about Living with AI?

McLuhan would likely analyze AI through the lens of his media theory, particularly his famous concept that “the medium is the message” and his ideas about how technologies extend human capabilities while reshaping our sensory ratios and social relationships.

McLuhan views AI as a profound natural extension of human cognitive capabilities, similar to how he saw electronic media as an extension of our central nervous system. It is important to think of AI more in the framework of Augmented Intelligence rather than Artificial Intelligence. He would argue that AI represents a tool and a transformation of augmented human consciousness and society through the externalization and automation of mental processes.

Suppose we consider AI a profound extension of human consciousness and a transformative medium that reshapes our society and cognition. In that case, we might begin to see the possibilities of how the change in social behavior will unfold. McLuhan’s insights on AI can be inferred from his existing work on media and technology:

AI as an Extension of Human Consciousness

McLuhan would likely see AI as the next step in the evolution of media as extensions of human faculties. He argued that “with electricity and automation, the technology of fragmented processes suddenly fused with the human dialogue and the need for overall consideration of human unity.”

AI represents a further fusion of technology and human cognition, potentially leading to a “world consciousness.”

The Medium is the Message

McLuhan’s famous phrase, “The medium is the message,” applies strongly to AI. He would likely argue that AI’s impact lies not just in its outputs but also in how it fundamentally alters our patterns of interaction, information processing, and societal structures.

The very nature of AI – its algorithms, data processing, and interaction modalities – redefines our perceptions and interactions with the world.

Global Village and Simultaneous Awareness

McLuhan predicted that electronic media would create a “global village” with instant access to information. He might view AI accelerating this trend: “When the globe becomes a single electronic computer, with all its languages and cultures recorded on a single tribal drum, the fixed point of view of print culture becomes irrelevant and impossible.” ~ Letter to David Reisman, February 18, 1960, in Letters of Marshall McLuhan (1987), think about that statement when the globe becomes a single computer. Think of the internet and the oneness humans have with information.

Potential Risks and Challenges

While McLuhan saw potential benefits in new technologies, he also warned of possible negative consequences:

Loss of privacy: Big Brother Goes Inside your mind and your living room.
Panic and tribal mentality: “We shall at once move into a phase of panic terrors, exactly befitting a small world of tribal drums.”
Misuse of technology: “The computer is being set to do all the old jobs, nothing new.” We are seeing where technology is beginning to do more than just old jobs; it is creating new jobs we have not thought about or imagined.