Robert K. Logan
Encyclopedia
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Robert K. Logan (born August 31, 1939), originally trained as a physicist
, is a media ecologist
. He received a BS
and PhD
from MIT in 1961 and 1965, respectively. After two post-doctoral appointments as a Research Associate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
(1965-7) and the University of Toronto
(1967-8), he became a physics professor in 1968 at Toronto until his retirement in 2005. He is now professor emeritus. In
While active at the University of Toronto, in addition to math-based physics courses he taught an interdisciplinary course – "The Poetry of Physics" – which led to his collaboration with Marshall McLuhan
, and his research in media ecology and the evolution of language. His best known works are The Alphabet Effect
– based on a paper Logan co-authored with McLuhan – which develops the hypothesis that the alphabet
, codified law, monotheism, abstract science and deductive logic form an autocatalytic set of ideas that developed uniquely between 2000 BC and 500 BC between the Tigris-Euphrates river system
and the Aegean Sea
; The Sixth Language: Learning a Living in the Internet Age which deals with the hypothesis that speech, writing, math, science, computing and the Internet form an evolutionary chain of languages; The Extended Mind: The Emergence of Language, the Human Mind and Culture develops a model for the origin of language
, the human mind and culture using ideas from The Sixth Language.
Logan has also been the Chief Scientist of the Strategic Innovations Lab at OCAD University in Ontario since 2007, and a senior fellow at the university's Beal Institute. Part of his work at OCAD involved a language-based project to change popular attitues about the environment, which resulted in the coining of the word "depletist".
September 2010, Logan founded the McLuhan Legacy Network, a non-profit organization based in Toronto dedicated to renewing the legacy of Marshall McLuhan and celebrating the centenary of McLuhan's birth in 2011.
Robert K. Logan (born August 31, 1939), originally trained as a physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
, is a media ecologist
Media ecology
Media ecology is a contested term within media studies having different meanings within European and North American contexts. The North American definition refers to aninterdisciplinary field of media theory and media design involving the study of "symbolic environment, or the socially constructed,...
. He received a BS
BS
BS, B.S., Bs or bs may refer to:-Academics:*Bachelor of Science degree, also abbreviated BSc*Bachelor of Surgery*Behavioural sciences-Standards:*Venezuelan bolívar's currency sign*Bolivian boliviano's currency sign...
and PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from MIT in 1961 and 1965, respectively. After two post-doctoral appointments as a Research Associate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
(1965-7) and the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
(1967-8), he became a physics professor in 1968 at Toronto until his retirement in 2005. He is now professor emeritus. In
While active at the University of Toronto, in addition to math-based physics courses he taught an interdisciplinary course – "The Poetry of Physics" – which led to his collaboration with Marshall McLuhan
Marshall McLuhan
Herbert Marshall McLuhan, CC was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar—a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and a communication theorist...
, and his research in media ecology and the evolution of language. His best known works are The Alphabet Effect
Alphabet Effect
The alphabet effect is a group of hypotheses in communication theory arguing that phonetic writing, and alphabetic scripts in particular, have served to promote and encourage the cognitive skills of abstraction, analysis, coding, decoding, and classification...
– based on a paper Logan co-authored with McLuhan – which develops the hypothesis that the alphabet
Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
, codified law, monotheism, abstract science and deductive logic form an autocatalytic set of ideas that developed uniquely between 2000 BC and 500 BC between the Tigris-Euphrates river system
Tigris-Euphrates river system
The Tigris–Euphrates river system is part of the palearctic Tigris-Euphrates alluvial salt marsh ecoregion, in the flooded grasslands and savannas biome, located in West Asia.-Geography:...
and the Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
; The Sixth Language: Learning a Living in the Internet Age which deals with the hypothesis that speech, writing, math, science, computing and the Internet form an evolutionary chain of languages; The Extended Mind: The Emergence of Language, the Human Mind and Culture develops a model for the origin of language
Origin of language
The origin of language is the emergence of language in the human species. This is a highly controversial topic. Empirical evidence is so limited that many regard it as unsuitable for serious scholars. In 1866, the Linguistic Society of Paris went so far as to ban debates on the subject...
, the human mind and culture using ideas from The Sixth Language.
Logan has also been the Chief Scientist of the Strategic Innovations Lab at OCAD University in Ontario since 2007, and a senior fellow at the university's Beal Institute. Part of his work at OCAD involved a language-based project to change popular attitues about the environment, which resulted in the coining of the word "depletist".
September 2010, Logan founded the McLuhan Legacy Network, a non-profit organization based in Toronto dedicated to renewing the legacy of Marshall McLuhan and celebrating the centenary of McLuhan's birth in 2011.
Books and articles
- (ed.) The Way Ahead for Canada. (1977) Lester and Orpen.
- with Steven.D. Berkowitz (eds.) Canada’s Third Option. (1978) MacMillan Canada.
- The Fifth Language: Learning a Living in the Computer Age. (1997) Stoddart Publishing.
- with Louis W. Stokes. Collaborate to Compete: Driving Profitability in the Knowledge Economy (2004) John Wiley (Mandarin Edition ISBN 7-5080-3669-7).
- The Alphabet Effect. (2004) Hampton Press. ISBN 1-57273-522-8
- The Sixth Language. (2004) Blackburn Press. ISBN 1-930665-99-7
- "The Extended Mind Model of the Origin of Language and Culture" in Gontier, Nathalie; Van Bendegem, Jean Paul; and Aerts, Diederik (eds.) Evolutionary Epistemology, Language and Culture. (2005) Springer.
- The Extended Mind: The Emergence of Language, the Human Mind and Culture. (2007) University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-9303-5
- Understanding New Media: Extending Marshall McLuhan. (2010) Peter Lang Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4331-1126-6
- The Poetry of Physics and the Physics of Poetry. (2010) World Scientific Publishing. ISBN 9814295930