The Medium and the Symbol: Thinking Through McLuhan's Tetrad



Some thoughts on Symbolism and the Medium through McLuhan’s Tetrad.

The Tetrad is a tool, a set of 4 questions, McLuhan developed late in his life to explore Media environments and make apparent the hidden effects that operate in the background.

1. What does X enhance?
2. What does X make obsolete?
3. What does X retrieve?
4. When pushed to an extreme, what does X reverse or flip into?

X= the medium in question (alphabet, telegraph, television, internet, social media etc.)

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