Response to The Medium is the Message

The thing that stuck out to me the most when I read McLuhan's article was his discussion of how improvements in technology affect our lives. I thought of the film Koyaanisqatsi and how it strives to interpret the dynamics between what we have built and ourselves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHAKqVvGj3w The film consists of an extended series of time lapse shots showing the repetition of motion throughout our cities. We see traffic circling a highway, factory workers cutting and dicing meat on a conveyor belt, and office window lights turning on and off. Each scene highlights humans and machines functioning simultaneously, with machines as "extensions of ourselves," as McLuhan puts it. Our technology aids us in performing functions, but also defines us: without it, we would not be able to live the same lives or act in the same ways as we do. It facilitates, but also manipulates. I believe Koyannisqatsi calls into question whether technology is driven in the direction which we desire, or whether it possesses its own direction which changes the ways we act and think without our consent.