May 22, 2026
THE DAILY McLUHAN DIALOGUES™ — McDialogue™
An Exploration of Technology Ecology as an Anchor in a Sea of Change™ and Tactical Training in Counter-Propaganda Science
by Nelson S. Thall, Former Director/Chief Archivist, Marshall McLuhan Center On Global Communications, Ross, Ca.
Fabricated Consciousness and the Rising Value of Being Human
A Student of Technology asks:
Mr. Thall, why do people increasingly crave authentic human contact in an age of synthetic interaction?
Nelson S. Thall replies:
As Artificial Intelligence increasingly fills electronic culture with synthetic voices, generated images, fabricated personalities, and machine-produced interaction, authentic human presence itself becomes psychologically and socially scarce.
The more civilization surrounds itself with fabricated consciousness, the more valuable genuine human contact becomes. Live conversation, physical gatherings, handmade objects, direct experience, and unmediated interaction begin acquiring new cultural and emotional importance precisely because they cannot be perfectly simulated electronically.
Electronic environments once promised unlimited connection. Yet the deeper paradox is that the more technologically connected society becomes, the greater the hunger for authentic presence, locality, touch, and human immediacy.
What people increasingly seek is not merely information, but confirmation that another living consciousness is truly present.
Every major technology reshapes the sensory balance of civilization. The AI age may ultimately force humanity to rediscover the irreplaceable value of actual human presence by surrounding society with endless simulations of it.
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All intellectual property contained herein was conceived, originated and authored exclusively by Nelson S. Thall. Artificial intelligence aka a pseudo-conscious machine (PCM) was not employed. We hired a stenographer. No intellectual contribution or creative authorship is attributed to the AI tool. All rights of authorship and ownership vest entirely and exclusively with Nelson S. Thall.
I can be reached at nelson@themediumisthemessage.com