Marshall McLuhan's prophetic insights in the 1960s foreshadowed the post-modern conflagration of message and meaning which became the dominant concern of social theorists and media intellectuals throughout the 1990s. While many saw the rise and rise of technology as alienating people from people, and lubricating the infiltration of the corporate message into the personal sphere, McLuhan had dared to be optimistic, forecasting the rise of the "global village" which, through media such as the Internet, is now made of virtual communities that underline what McLuhan predicted, and the philosophical questions that become apparent make a reassessment of his work more timely than ever.