What if Marshall McLuhan was Right?

Marshall McLuhan was an academic and a writer how predicted the internet 30 years before it was invented. He coined the term "global village", a term that is still used today.

For those of us who were taught in a pre-digital age, we primarily learned from books. In fact, since the age of print, learning has been primarily from books.

The ability to learn from books was transformative for human society, launching the Age of Reason and ushering in modern nationalism and industrialism.

By its nature, this learning is inherently linear, based on what one could call sequential logic. There is a beginning, middle, and end for every book. One idea builds on the next, in order, until a conclusion.

It could be argued that this type of thinking developed that part of our brain that is analytical, what is know as the Central Executive Network .

Sequential logic is utilized for the scientific method and underpins the Cartesian Mindset.

How we learn shapes how we think.

But, take a moment and observe: that is not how digital natives learn. Students today have never known a time where there was not the World Wide Web filled with information that is all hyperlinked together. In this hyperlinked environment, there is no single path of learning, instead, each person's path is self-defined by their Curiosity.

As a result, many of these digital natives don't primarily learn linearly. Instead, their learning process is far more multi-dimensional - spacial - as they jump from link to link to create meaning through dynamic triangulation. Something that we could call Trialectical Synthesis.

It is likely that this type of thinking is activating their Salience Network , that network that creates meaning by synthesizing contrasts - one that is dialectical in its very nature.

Activated, the Whole Mind unleashes new capacity for creative thinking.

Thoughts on the Digital Mind