I think of art, at its most significant, as a DEW line, a Distant Early Warning system that can always be relied on to tell the old culture what is beginning to happen to it.
Source: Understanding Media, McGraw-Hill 64
-- Marshall McLuhan, (Jul 21 1911-1980), Canadian educator, author; His aphorism the medium is the message summarized his view of the potent influence of television, computers, and other electronic information.