Andrew McLuhan (@amicusadastra) is a poet, artist, and punk-rocker.

In this conversation, we spent over three hours on five words: the medium is the message. Andrew explained why his grandfather saw the medium as an environment rather than just an instrument, and why environments shape us most when we’re not paying attention to them. We talked about the miracle of language—how one person can push sounds out of their mouth and another person can understand them—and how each new technology quietly redefines what it means to be human.

We explored figure and ground, oral versus literate culture, the shift from mechanical to electrical ages, and why hip hop and punk rock share the same irreverent impulse. Despite everything, Andrew is an optimist. He sees the beauty around him. He also brought homemade maple syrup from his farm and we discussed whether shawarma was the medium or the message.

This is a conversation about media, perception, and how we might not always be aware of the things changing us.

The Other Stuff is hosted by internetVin⁠, filmmaker and entrepreneur and possibly the most curious man on Earth. Produced by New.

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Timestamps

00:00:00 Introduction
00:04:30 Prince Edward County & Main Duck Island
00:07:10 The Marysburg Vortex
00:16:50 What Does “The Medium Is The Message” Actually Mean?
00:36:24 The Smartphone Exercise
00:44:26 Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
01:08:56 Buckminster Fuller & Interdisciplinary Thinking
01:25:56 Marshall’s Journey to Cambridge
01:43:06 Why This Work Matters
01:51:53 AI, Privacy & Feeding Context to LLMs
02:00:17 Media Ecology vs Media Literacy
02:08:12 Making Maple Syrup
02:23:44 Sandwiches as a Medium
02:34:35 The Polydicks & Punk Rock
02:45:51 Wu-Tang & Poetry
02:53:42 Leaving Literacy Behind
03:06:08 The Future of Technology

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The Other Stuff Podcast: https://otherstuffpod.com

internetVin ⁠

https://x.com/internetvin

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Practical Criticism

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