The Resonating Interval: Exploring the Process of the Tetrad By Anthony Hempell

The effects of military technology are sometimes the most striking examples of how technology changes its environment and vice versa. Within the more confined arena of battle and military history, the deadly changes brought about by the invention of weaponry and defensive techniques illustrates how radically technology can alter our everyday lives, and the course of history:

If all technological devices open doors, weapons do so in a particularly dramatic way. There is an urgency to war that accelerates the making of decisions; the effect of choosing to use, or not to use, a particular weapon is usually obvious and swift. War often makes the film of technical change look as if it were being run at double speed. (Rybczynski, 1983, p.166)

Gunpowder was invented by the Chinese, circa 900 B.C., who mainly used it for fireworks. It reached Europe through the Arabs in the 14th Century; where it had a revolutionary effect on weapons and warfare with the invention of the musket and cannon.

Table 6: Tetrad of "Gunpowder" (McLuhan & Powers, p.173)

(A) Enhancement Extends the range of any steel-cased projectile Brings back the "Superman"--the group charge (C) Retrieval

(D) Reversal Flips into total automated death Obsolesces individual personal combat (B) Obsolescence

• Tetrads: Past: Cash Money
• Tetrads: Past: Gunpowder
• Tetrads: Past: Telegraph

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