Topic: Marshall McLuhan's Global Village (Read 138 times)

The term ‘global village’ was coined in 1967 by Marshall McLuhan. There’s a funny story behind it. The book is called ‘The Medium is the Massage” because an editor mis-typed the title. Marshall let the title stand, because he said actually media ‘massages’ us all over, gets into us in all senses, so let that title stand.

His basic message was that technology is bringing us all closer together — originally all communication was oral; then it was written; now it’s multi-sensory, and the world is (pleasantly) contracting as all of our senses are drawn in, by technology. So the ‘global village’ idea was coined WAY before the internet was even invented or thought of.

He calls it a global village because it’s a “simultaneous happening” which weirdly foreshadows the development of Blockchain. Now we can have almost simultaneous transactions, or communications, it really has happened, and we can all join in if we want to.

Reading ahead, Marshall also makes a comment that resonates with us today: “our new environment compels commitment and participation. We have become irrevocably involved with, and responsible for, each other” So that’s what a global village means maybe to us today — working together as a community to achieve aims together, and look after each other through lessening one risk in life — in our case currency risk.

Let’s create this together, 51 one years after the original — was coined.

*Written by: Linda Leaney — Globcoin CFO