读麦讲演人与媒介（1979）030

　　This pattern of four aspects of change - enhancing, obsolescing, retrieving, and flipping - happens to be the pattern of a metaphor. All metaphors have these four aspects. All metaphors are figure/ground in ratio to figure/ground. They are not connected. They are in ratio. Metaphors are in. All technologies have these four aspects. I was gradually forced to conclude that all human extensions are utterings or outerings of our own beings and are literally linguistic in character. Whether it is your shoes or a walking stick, a zipper or a bulldozer, all of these forms are linguistic in structure and are outerings or utterings of man’s own being. They have their own syntax and grammar as much as any verbal form. This was an unexpected result of looking at these innovations structurally, not with an intent to discover anything except inpidual structures. Eventually I realized that these structures are literally linguistic; there is no difference between hardware and software, between verbal and non-verbal technology in terms of this linguistic character or sharing.
　　这一包含变化的四个方面——增大（扩大，夸大）、废退（废弃、淘汰，过时）、恢复（重新得到，再生，挽救）、翻转（急转）——的模式恰好是隐喻的模式。一切隐喻都有这四个方面。一切隐喻都意味着外观/背景对外观/背景的比例。它们都不是按次序连接的，它们成比例。隐喻就是可接受的比例。一切技术都有这四个方面。我逐渐被促使作出这样的结论：所有人类的延伸都是我们自身存在的表达或外化，而且毫不夸张地具有语言的特性。无论这是你的鞋子还是一根手杖、一条拉链还是一把大手枪，所有这些形式在结构上都是语言，都是人类自身存在的外化或表达。和任何语言形式一样，它们有它们自己的符号关系学和语法。这是从结构上看这些创新——不是带着一个目的去发现除独特结构之外的任何东西——的一个意想不到的结果。最终，我意识到这些结构真正是语言的；就这样的语言特征或共同具有而言，硬件和软件之间、语言技术和非语言技术之间，毫无区别。
　　按： 外观/背景对背景/外观的比例，是麦氏媒介四定律的注脚。
　　技术各有其自身的符号关系学和语法，技术总括则是所有技术语言的共鸣。符号关系学，syntax，句法。
　　在整体场中——无论是语音的还是电子的——作模式识别或结构识别，切忌预设一个目的或意图。模式或结构之外别无他物，假如有也是虚构出来的。不预设目的是随时切换目标的近似说法。
　　隐喻是可接受的外观/背景对背景/外观的比例。
　　在一切硬件逆转为软件的时代，要特别留意硬件和非语言技术的语言特征或者符号特征，留意它的＂自我指涉＂以及它们之间的＂交流＂。