Some vocabulary form the Marshall McLuhan Interview
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abdicate: (v) fail to fulfill or undertake a responsibility 
 or duty. 

abstruse: hard to understand; esoteric.

agglomeration: a mass or collection of things; an assemblage.

anomie: 
 (1) Lack of moral standards in a society
 (2) Personal state of isolation and anxiety resulting from 
     a lack of social control and regulation 

aphorism: a pithy observation that contains a general truth
 (eg: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it").

atavist: an organism that has the characteristics of a more
 primitive organism. 

avuncular: Being or relating to an uncle. Like an uncle
 in kindness or indulgence.

Balkanization: a geopolitical term originally used to describe
 the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state
 into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or
 non-cooperative with each other. 

Bergson, Henri.  French philosopher (1859-1941).

condottiere: A military adventurer of the fourteenth and 
 fifteenth centuries, who sold his services, and those 
 of his followers, to any party in any contest: a mercenary.

connubium: (Latin) marriage. 

coterie: (n) group of close associates.

cybernation: the use of computers to control automatic processes.

Doppelgänger: (German) a double, twin, or "evil twin".

epigrammatic: terse and witty like a maxim.

gnomic: like a gnome (a troll, a mythical, shriveled little old man 
   guarding the earth's treasures, living in its interior).

internecine: (1) (of conflict) within a group or organization;
  (2) characterized by bloodshed and carnage on both sides.

labyrinthine: complicated, maze-like.

limn (v) - To paint or draw.  To describe. 

literati (pl noun): intellectuals, scholars.

logos: the divine word of God; the second person in the
 Trinity (incarnate in Jesus).

Luddite: a person opposed to increased industrialization or 
 new technology

Marconi, Guglielmo (1874-1937):  Italian electrical 
  engineer, "father of the radio".

mercurial: changeable, volatile, fickle.  animated, lively.

Narcissus: In Greek mythology, Narcissus was a hero of the territory of
 Thespiae in Boeotia who was renowned for his beauty. 

narcosis: the unconsciousness induced by a narcotic drug

Nkrumah, Kwame: Pan-Africanist. Leader of Ghana.  

obsequy (obsequies) : a funeral rite or ceremony.

plebiscite: a vote by the electorate determining public opinion on a question
 of national importance.

protean: easily assuming different forms or characters, like an amoeba.

sensorium: The seat of sensation; the nervous 
  center or centers to which impressions from the external 
  world must be conveyed before they can be perceived; 
  the place where external impressions are localized, 
  and transformed into sensations, prior to being reflected 
  to other parts of the organism; hence, the whole 
  nervous system, when animated, so far as it is susceptible 
  of common or special sensations

Spengler, Oswald - German historian, philosopher who wrote about
 the decline of Western civilization ("The Decline of the West", 1918).

stigma, stigmata (pl): stain, mark of disgrace.  Marks resembling 
 the wounds on the body of the crucified Christ. 

sunder: break apart or in two, using violence.

synaesthetic: relating to or experiencing synesthesia; involving
 more than one sense.
 (synesthesia: A sensation that normally occurs in one sense modality
 occurring when another modality is simulated.)

terra incognita: an unknown land.

theretofore: up to that time.

transmogrify: change completely in appearance or nature.