Writing is an extension of our voice, cars of our legs, guns of our fists, telephones of our ears, televisions of our eyes…Marshall McLuhan considered all media to be technology that extended the human body. The arrival of a medium like writing can completely reorder social relations because it has the power to “shape and control the scale and form of human association and action.” McLuhan’s idea of extensions is arguably the beginning of modern media theory, but it is not without its limitations.

Media Objects is produced in collaboration with Media Studies at Cornell University. With support from the college of Arts and Sciences and the Society for the Humanities. Editing and academic counsel from Erik Born, Jeremy Braddock, and Paul Fleming.

Guests in this episode include professors Anna Shechtman, Andrew Campana, Jeremy Braddock, and Erik Born.

Media Objects 01: Extensions

Benjamin Harnett reads "Yahoo! Answers," first published in Tahoma Literary Review, Volume 3, Issue 1.

Benjamin Harnett, "Yahoo! Answers"

Traffic surges, tactile clues, and the smell of crispy bacon: meet a specialist who helps blind and low-vision people learn to get around independently.

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New ways of thinking about the world, brought to you by the humanities and The World According to Sound. 

We’re working with universities to translate academic research into sound. Each season has a radically different format and topic. You’ll never hear the same kind of thing twice.

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Media Objects 01: Extensions

World According to Sound

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