Laws of media

Laws of Media; The New Science started as an anticipated 2nd edition to Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. In this book the "Laws" are four principles discussed in Understanding Media, used here as a set of four questions to query any artifact created by humans, including theory, procedures, and style. These can also be viewed as four perspectives or dimensions of such an artifact. The four dimensions are referenced in the book as the "tetrad." About eighty pages of the book are devoted to examples of artifacts tested as tetrads. The examples—laid out, per Eric, as poetic stanzas, without further elaboration—can confuse the reader's newly minted understanding of the tetrad; however, one does not need to understand the examples to gain insights from the book, a collaboration between Marshall McLuhan and his son, Eric McLuhan. --F.A. Moore