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COOL

McCluhan, in "Understanding
Media" provided a unique
definition for "Coolness"...              I checked the reference on
A cool media is one that                  this, and I see that        CLOUDY
bombards you with a relatively            I got it more or less right
small amount of bits per                  (He calls "High Definition"
second.  TV is Hot.                       media "Hot".)  But he actually
Radio is Cool.                            calls Radio a "Hot" medium
                                          in comparision to the "Cool"
Cool people then, like radio              Telephone.  But obviously,
because it is a cool medium,              definition is a continuum,
perhaps because it requires               and in comparision to TV,
(or at least allows) a greater            Radio is at least cooler.
use of your imagination than
Hot media like TV, which just             And doesn't it confuse the
hands everything to you and               issue by comparing passive
requires only passive                     media, to something interactive
reception of the information.             like the Telephone?  Of course
                                          interactive media are more
On the other hand, people                 personally engaging, but that's
driving cars like cool media,             a separate consideration from
because the main part of their            the amount of data involved...
attention is taken up by what
they're doing.  They can't                Virtual Reality:
afford the total engagement a             Hot or Cold?
"hot" media requires.





                                 There's an older, almost forgotten
                                 definition of "cool", as in "playing
                                 it cool", which means keeping a low profile
                                 so the authorities will leave you alone.
                                 Painting your car in psychedelic day-glo
                                 colors would therefore not be "cool".

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