
The New Abnormal
#TheNewAbnormal podcast (which has over 250,000 downloads) focuses on understanding today and anticipating the future. Discussing these subjects via the viewpoints of my guests has led to some fascinating conversations with activists, creatives, writers, philosophers, strategists, psychologists, lecturers, futurists, etc. Re: my bio, I'm a strategist, author and speaker. My 1st book went to No1 in the business charts, whilst my 2nd was shortlisted for the 'Business Book of the Year' Awards. (The podcast partners with The Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, a global leader in applying futures studies to solve strategic challenges, helping clients to be #FuturesReady.) So, we hope you enjoy listening to the series - which was set up during the early days of Covid, and is divided into Series One [2020-21] Two [2022] Three [2023] Four [2024] and Five [2025]. All rights reserved. #TheNewAbnormal podcast series © Sean Pillot de Chenecey 2020. Please note that it's currently on hold, as I literally don’t have the time to record any episodes at the moment, but it’ll return in late summer...
The New Abnormal
Andrew McLuhan 'The Medium is the Message'
Series Four
This episode of 'The New Abnormal' podcast features 'poet for hire' Andrew McLuhan, who also just happens to be the grandson of media-theorist Marshall McLuhan and son of Dr Eric McLuhan. He writes, teaches, coaches and consults about culture and technology from a McLuhan perspective. We therefore discuss his work regarding his exploration, documenting and inventorying the library of Marshall McLuhan (which UNESCO named as part of its 'Memory of the World' registry) and why he views the relationship between his grandfather and father as akin to that of Plato and Aristotle. Along the way, James Joyce and the French symbolists get a mention, as does Trump. (You don't often see those in the same sentence.) Naturally, we talk about all things pattern-recognition, identity and global-village related, during this 'dynamic refresher' on the thinking of Marshall McLuhan. Which gives me the perfect opportunity to repeat that epic statement "in a culture like ours, long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control, it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium in the message".