“A change in the type of medium implies a change in the type of appraisal and hence makes it difficult for one civilization to understand another.”

— Harold Innis, book Empire and Communications

2007 edition, p. 29.
Empire and Communications (1950)
Context: The significance of a basic medium to its civilization is difficult to appraise since the means of appraisal are influenced by the media, and indeed the fact of appraisal appears to be peculiar to certain types of media. A change in the type of medium implies a change in the type of appraisal and hence makes it difficult for one civilization to understand another.

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Harold Innis22

Canadian professor of political economy 1894–1952

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“A change in the type of medium implies a change in the type of appraisal and hence makes it difficult for one civilization to understand another.”

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