colonel@buffalo.CSNET ("Col. G. L. Sicherman") (08/12/86)
> Whether he was talking about the broadcast or the computer industry, he > got the analogy wrong. Of course--that's what makes the analogy "stick." > If the subject is broadcasting, the sports analogy to a "programmer" > is the guy that makes the play schedules. Not exactly. McLuhan's "programmer" is the man who selects the content of the medium, not what computer people call a programmer. > ... But still, in computing, > a programmer bears at least partial responsibility for the computer's > (mis)behaviour. I agree. McLuhan is writing about not responsibility but responsiveness. Last Saturday I visited an apartment where a group of men and kids were shouting at the TV set during a football game. It's a natural response, and it would have been effective if TV were an interactive medium. If you dislike this posting, will you complain to the moderator? To the people who programmed netnews? To the editor of the New York _Times?_ Of course not; you must talk to the medium, not to the programmer!