ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we build on the communication ontology of Chapter 2 to investigate the impact of media on our mental lives. We examine the microscopic grains of truth in Marshall McLuhan’s dictum “The medium is the message” and other fables about our contemporary communications systems, while emphasizing the greater value of the classic sociological idea of the common mind for purposes of scientific analysis. We thereby lay down further foundations for analysis of interactions between technologies of communication and politics, while distancing ourselves from unsupportable positions propounded by some media scholars and much admired by certain pundits. We also raise questions about whether new AI technologies are now positioned to intervene dramatically in human affairs, by either enhancing or undermining the common mind that is the engine of culture and, correspondingly, the springboard of social change.
