What is a Global Village?
The Global Village is the result of technical development and international cooperation that began in the Industrial Park of the 20th Century. It became a reality of life in the 21st Century. In his book, Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan gave us this insight:
Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous system itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned.
McLuhan was a media and communication theorist. He coined the term “global village” in 1964. He foresaw the world’s culture shrinking and expanding at the same time. In his view, television gave us the ability to share cultural experiences without having to travel. We could experience events from other parts of the world in real-time. That is what human experience was like when we lived in small villages.
He used the concept of a global village to consider its social effects. His insights were revolutionary. They framed our understanding of media, technology, and communications for decades.
McLuhan, was not an expert in communication technology. He focused on its impact on society. However, Nicolas Tesla was a technology visionary. In an interview with Colliers magazine in 1926, he described the global village in technical terms:
“When wireless is … applied the whole earth will be converted into a huge brain, which in fact it is, all things being particles of a real and rhythmic whole. We shall be able to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance. Not only this, but through television and telephony we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles; and the instruments through which we shall be able to do this will be amazingly simple compared with our present telephone. A man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket.”
Today, the Web is often seen as the medium that joins people throughout the globe. It allows anyone with an Internet connection to know what is going on around the world 24/7. People can communicate with individuals or with groups of people in far away places.
“You see, Dad, Professor McLuhan says that the environment that man creates becomes his medium for defining his role in it. The invention of type created linear, or sequential thought, separating thought from action. Now, with TV and folk singing, thought and action are closer and social involvement is greater. We again live in a village. Get it?” — The New Yorker Magazine 1966 — The Medium is the Massage
