The more common story -the command-and-control version-is that the internet is a product of the _. Czitrom, they involve "the military and the counterculture, the need for command and control and the impulse against hierarchy and toward decentralization". In the words of media historian Daniel J. There are conflicting versions about the origins of the Internet. How can you reconcile the disagreement you have uncovered? You respect and enjoy the ideas of both thinkers. McLuhan sees the new communication technologies as expanding our experiences. We are united by buyable things, identifying not with others who share our common culture but with those who share common brands. It's about electronic technology turning us into indistinguishable non individuals, rallying around products. Gibson's nationless world isn't about involving ourselves in one another's lives and experiences. McLuhan's global village is an exciting place, a good place for people enjoying increased contact and increased involvement with one another aided by electronic technology. There it is, just as you thought: "The human tribe can become truly one family and man's consciousness can be freed from the shackles of mechanical culture and enabled to roam the cosmos" (in Nordon, 1969). You Google it to confirm that you understood him correctly. Where was it you read about the global village? He did his influential writing a long time ago. Maybe you were wrong about McLuhan's ideas.