Thomas Edison

"necessity is the mother of invention". Thomas Edison statement was based on the dependence of society using technology. This statement means that items that are invented based off of what people need. This is because no one will be able to appreciate an item that has no use. An example in today’s day an age is the iPhone which was invented so people didn’t have to carry both a phone and an iPod. That is making an invention due to the necessity of the people.
Marshall McLuhan flipped this statement on its ear when he said that “Invention is the mother of necessity” which in my opinion has even more relevance today. Here is an example back in the day flying an airplane seemed impossible. Now it is by far the most convenient and safest way to travel. I can’t imagine having to live without it. Washington state is where I’m born so we have been up there to visit a few times. The driving time to get there is around 1 day 23 hours and 12 minutes, but a simple flight out there would only take around 5 hours 3 minutes. That is a major difference and when you calculate your driving expenses of gas and food flying becomes an even cheaper way to travel.
Although during the time period I’m sure Thomas Edison’s statement was more relevant, I believe in our society Marshall McLuhan really nailed what inventions mean to society in his statement. Having said this I also think that it will stay this way considering technology is still being improved