读麦讲演人与媒介（1979）017

　　The preface to a new book of mine begins, ＂All of man’s artifacts, of language, of laws, of ideas, hypotheses, tools, clothing, computers - all of these are extensions of our physical bodies.＂ This power to extend ourselves was used as a theme by Hans Hass in his book The Human Animal. In it he considers this human ability to create additional organs as ＂an enormity from the evolutionary standpoint - an advance laden with unfathomable consequences.＂ My own Laws of the Media are observations on the operation and effects of human artifacts on man and society, or, as Hans Hass notes, a human artifact is ＂not merely an implement for working upon something, but an extension of our body effected by the artificial addition of organs; an advance to which, to a greater or lesser degree, we owe our civilization.＂ Hass considers our bodily extensions as having these advantages: (a) they have no need of constant nourishment, thus they save energy; (b) they can be discarded or stored rather than carried around, a further saving of energy; (c) they are exchangeable, enabling man to specialize, to play many roles, so that when carrying a spear, he can be a hunter or when using a paddle he can move across the sea. All of these instruments can be shared communally. They can be made in any community by specialists, giving rise to handcraft skills.
　　我的一本新书的序言是这样开头的，＂人类所有的人造物，所有语言，所有法律，所有思想、前提、工具、服装、计算机——这些当中的每一样都是我们肉身的延伸。＂我们自身的延伸这种能力，被汉斯·哈斯在他的书《人这种动物》中用作一个主题。在书中，他认为人类创造附加的器官这一能力是＂从进化观点来看意义深远——一个充满了不可理解的重要性的进步＂。我自己的《媒介定律》就是基于人造物对人和社会的作用和影响的观察，或者，如汉斯·哈斯所说，一种人造物＂不仅是一种用来做某事的工具，还是一种因人为的器官附加而实现的我们身体的延伸；这是我们的文明或多或少都应该归功于此的一个进步。＂汉斯认为我们的身体延伸具有以下优点：（a）它们不需要持续的营养，因此它们节省能源；（b）它们可以被丢弃或存储而不是随身携带，进一步节省能源；（c）它们是可调换的，使人能够专攻、能够扮演许多角色，因此，在拿上一支矛的时候他可以是一位猎人，或者在用一支桨的时候他可以穿越大海。所有这些工具都可以共享。它们可以在任何社区由专家制作，从而产生手工技能。
　　按： 技术和工具是人身体的延伸，这一想法的毛病在于所有延伸都在人身上汇总。事实上，就算都是人的延伸，技术是在人体外总括的，这样的总括对人、对社会的作用和影响，不以人的意志为转移，不可规划。
　　人群组织中的软件如语言、法律、思想、前提等，都不是人体的延伸，而是硬件延伸总括形成的旁效现象。
　　口语文化里也有专家，但这不是职业，而是角色。这样的专家是整体场背景的一个组分，不是外观。