Marshall McLuhan's concept of 'the medium is the message' emphasizes that the overall impact of a new technology transcends its specific contents, serving as a true message of innovation. Media extend human capabilities while simultaneously numbing those functions, reflected in the tetrad of media effects that illustrate the enhancement, obsolescence, retrieval, and reversal associated with each medium. The document discusses the implications of virtual environments, like Second Life, on social interactions and the physical world.

2. Medium is the Message Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media

3. Medium is the Message The total effect of the introduction of a new technology is greater than any specific content, and is therefore the true message of that technological innovation.

4. Medium is the Message Medium = Milieu

5. MEDIA ARE EXTENSIONS OF OUR SELVES

6. Each extension creates it’s own service environment. As it extends us, it also numbs that which it extends. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us.

7. Extensions of Ourselves Print – eye Radio – voice Internet – CNS MUVE - What do they extend?

8. Tetrad of Media Effects Laws of Media Marshall McLuhan and Eric McLuhan

9. Every human artifact simultaneously ENHANCES OBSOLECES RETRIEVES REVERSES

10. TETRAD FOR RADIO ENHANCES – Human Voice OBSOLECES- Print as mass medium RETRIEVES – Town Crier REVERSES – Audio-visual Television From Digital McLuhan by Paul Levinson, p 189

11. TETRAD FOR SECOND LIFE ENHANCES – Social and Experiential Communication OBSOLECES- Mobile Physical Life RETRIEVES – Real Life Objects, roles, situations. REVERSES – Get a first life! 

12. How do MUVE like Second Life effect our lives and society?