Default Culture
Read Mercer Schuchardt
April 1, 1999
"When a man is thrown by the torrent against a boulder, you must expect him to scream. And you shouldn't be surprised if his scream is sometimes a theory."—Robert Louis StevensonIt is a strange but observable habit of our species that, when looking for directions, a human being will instinctively reduce the factors of speed and volume. In an automobile approaching its destination, the driver will not only slow down the vehicle to find his particular address, but will also turn down the volume of the radio, as though somehow a reduction in aural interference will provide a solution to what is, after all, a visual problem. Yet we all do it, and not by superstition, tradition, or any irrational impulse, but simply because it works. The impetus for such a habit is a principle that Marshall McLuhan called the "unified sensorium," meaning that our five senses have a biological need to be in equilibrium with each other. This sensory balnce, operative at most times, manifests itself in those situations where one of our senses shuts itself down in acquiescence to the others, like the habit many people have of closing their eyes while kissing. In the case of the wandering car, it is interesting to note that the driver, without consciously realizing it, is actually attempting to return his organism to a natural state, one in which his body is travelling at the six miles per hour that it was made to go, and in which his ears are alert for any signals from the immediate natural surroundings, one reason why many people not only turn down the radio when they're lost driving, but actually roll down the windows. Yet another example is the universal habit of needing silence in order to concentrate on a problem.So here we are, hurtling ...
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