The Medium is the Message

Apparently (what can be ascertained by the means of eyesight), an empty (assessment of space by the means of eyesight) statement, vaguely gesturing (observation of movement by the means of eyesight) at some pseudo-visionary (the ability to imagine with originality or wisdom - to see the future) idea. However, it is anything but. Oral tradition privileges the ear and the written tradition the eye, but most crucially, the medium through which information is conveyed influences both how we think about that particular piece of information and all the other information. There exists a symbiotic relationship between the medium and ourselves. As the new medium emerges, we adapt to it, or maybe more accurately, it adapts us to itself, but we shape it further, for ultimately we are the creates of the medium in the first place. The oldest medium, language, is the foremost example of this phenomenon. Today, we can even prove it scientifically. Well, what are different mediums, but different languages? This has reached its apex with the dawn of the internet, the medium we are still wandering through without the complete appreciation of how different it is from all of the mediums of the past. The global village has never been more global. It is fast and vast. This is reflected in the primary language of the internet, memes. Memes used to be more durable, as certain memes used to last for years, but as the newer generations which primarily grew up on the internet assumed primacy, the staying power of any particular meme has become null; unless, of course, it manages to evolve rapidly, and the longer the meme remains the center of attention, the less it must resemble the original.

The medium is the message and deep-fried, post-irony memes are the proof.