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Google Doodle celebrates the 'man who saw the internet coming'

A fitting celebration.

Suzanne Ciechalski

on July 21, 2017

Google Doodle celebrates the 'man who saw the internet coming'

He'd be 106 today. Credit: JOHN LINDSAY/AP/REX/Shutterstock

Let's be honest. Google Doodles are probably one of the best things about the internet. They're fun, and they tend to celebrate a lot of awesome people, and really cool events.

But today's doodle is probably the most fitting for the website, as it literally celebrates the man who "saw the internet coming", Marshall McLuhan.

McLuhan, who would be 106 years old today, is famous for his work in media theory, and coined the famous phrase, "The medium is the message."

The doodle, like all others, links to the results of a Google search of McLuhan. It features six images — a nod to McLuhan's theories on the four eras defined by the spread of information, and technology's effect on society, according to The Verge.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The first image, which shows people sitting near a fire, is what McLuhan coined as the "Acoustic Age." It's followed by an image of someone writing, which he referred to as the "Written Age."

Mashable Light Speed

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The next image represents "Mass Production," and is followed up by an image of McLuhan on television. And finally, the last two images represent the "Global Village/Electronic Age."

In the 1960s, he discussed the “global village” in several works, which represents the way in which people would eventually be brought together through technology. It's also what could be considered the internet as we know it today, according to the Telegraph.

Online, the doodle and McLuhan himself were celebrated.