65 Responses to ““We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us””

1. 1 Shavonne on March 2, 2014 said:

   Have you ever thought about creating an ebook or guest authoring on other websites?

   I have a blog centered on the same subjects you
   discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information.
   I know my subscribers would value your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free
   to send me an email.

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2. 2 Alex Kuskis on March 2, 2014 said:

   Thanks, I wish I had the time. Time … it’s the only thing they’re not making more of…….AlexK

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3. 3 Ray Daly on April 29, 2014 said:

   “We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us” was in a McLuhan publication, just not a book. It is on the recording “The Medium is the Massage” which was released in 1967. You can hear on side 2 at the 15:45 mark on my copy. He was actually rephrasing Winston Churchill: “We shape our buildings and they shape us.”

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4. 4 Alex Kuskis on April 29, 2014 said:

   I’ll check that out, Ray. It’s been awhile since I listened to that recording. But in this collection of quotes from the recording, that quote is correctly attributed to John M. Culkin: http://www.themediumisthemassage.com/the-record/ . Thanks……AlexK

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5. 5 Nate on October 29, 2015 said:

   I just found audio from “The Medium is the Massage” on Youtube. At the 15:50 mark is “We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfDS5YsasYw

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6. 6 Alex Kuskis on May 25, 2016 said:

   Sir, I’ve approved your pingback, despite your ill-informed comments about Marshall McLuhan:”master of misdirection, provocation, and the willfully obtuse”. That reflects a superficial understanding of McLuhan that amounts to misunderstanding. On his most famous aphorism, you might want to read this explanation: https://mcluhangalaxy.wordpress.com/2010/10/30/the-medium-is-the-message/ . Thanks….Alex

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7. 7 Matthew on June 29, 2016 said:

   Not that it really matters, but it was published! I can’t remember the book exactly. you might be right in that it wasn’t in understanding media, but I remember reading that quote for the first time in a library and it was a book written by mcluhan, not just quoting him, or Culkin as you pointed out. I’s seens it with me own two eyes!!

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8. 8 Alex Kuskis on June 30, 2016 said:

   One other place you might have seen it in a book is in Lewis Lapham’s Intro to the MIT Press edition of Understanding in Media. Other than that, you won’t find it written by McLuhan himself. I have looked. So has Eric McLuhan, MM’s #1 son. In fact, he was the one who asked me about it and started me on this query. The proof is in the pudding. If you can show it in anything written by MM, tell us precisely where. Thanks for your interest…….Alex

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9. 9 Matthew on June 30, 2016 said:

   hmmm I see

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10. 10 Matthew on June 30, 2016 said:

    Yes now that I think of it, it would be a preface because I started from the beginning of the book.

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11. 11 Outta Names on January 27, 2018 said:

    Yes! However the actual quote on the album sounds more like this: “We shape our tools and thereafter our tools ‘ape us”.

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12. 12 anon900 on October 20, 2018 said:

    [audio src="https://ubusound.memoryoftheworld.org/mcluhan_marshall/Mcluhan-Marshall_The-Medium-Is-The-Massage_02-Stereo.mp3" /]

    you can hear it at 15:50

    LikeLike
13. 13 Anonymous on April 21, 2024 said:

    It may not be in his book but it is in the lp record he made in the 60’s called The Medium is the Massage.

    LikeLike

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