An architecture student who took courses with McLuhan. In 1969 he wrote an essay on the Japanese term "ma" (gap/interval) for McLuhan — the paper Cameron credits with fitting tactility together with McLuhan's notions of gap and resonance, feeding into the "gap," "nullity," and "nothing" language running through McLuhan's letters and thinking from the late 1960s through the 1970s. Distinct from William Irwin Thompson, to whom the bare surname "Thompson" refers elsewhere in the series.
Across the dialogues
Fred Thompson's 1969 paper on the Japanese term "ma" is what got McLuhan thinking about tactility as the gap.
"So it was that paper of Fred Thompson that got McLuhan thinking about tactility as the gap."
Connections
Architecture student who took courses with McLuhan; wrote the 1969 paper on the Japanese term "ma" (gap/interval) that Cameron credits with fitting tactility together with McLuhan's notions of gap and resonance.