week five - Human beings

This week we had class on Wednesday rather than a Thursday. When John asked on facebook if I could attend I said yes and so did the majority of the class but an appointment with someone I am doing design work for outside of college came up and I unfortunately couldn't attend.

I did catch up on the class notes which were very interesting. In class, the difference of human beings as a species compared to every other on the planet was discussed which I found very interesting. The main differentiating factor being humans use of tools. the fact that we have this ability and that when we use them, they are an extension of ourselves. they are an an extension of what we can do and when we use them we are a single entity with our tools.

McLuhan posits that our tools change us and therefore seeing as the tools we use as a species is changing rapidly, therefore we are changing similarly. this is very interesting as I can see a mammoth generation gap in my own family between my parents and my younger brother who is 16. He is completely dependant on his phone and it is definitely an extension of himself.

In our group, we created a group chat on facebook and agreed to meet up for the first time. I missed the first online meeting but everything talked about was then said on the social media group. we have decided we will do our project on shopping in an online environment. we are going to all research the different ways you can shop online. Another idea was how robotics is taking over the construction industry. we are going to have another meeting before class next week.