Public Intellectuals samizdat, and encrypted group chats. Could you briefly explain what these media are and how they functioned? Marshall McLuhan: Certainly. The talking statues of early modern Rome were a form of popular political satire and protest that involved attaching anonymous poems, epigrams, and pamphlets to six statues in the city, most famously Pasquino, a mutilated torso of a Roman sculp- ture. These writings, known as pasquinades, mocked and criticized the pope, the cardinals, the nobility, and the foreign powers that influenced Rome’s affairs. They expressed the grievances, opinions, and humor of the common people, who often gathered around the stat- ues to read and discuss them. The authorities tried to suppress and punish this practice, but it persisted for centuries, and became a symbol of Roman civic culture and identity. Samizdat was a form of self-publishing and under- ground distribution of banned or censored literature, art, and information in the Soviet Union and other communist countries. It involved typing, copying, and circulating manuscripts, often by hand, that challenged the official ideology, exposed the realities of life under totalitarianism, and expressed alternative views and values. Samizdat was a risky and costly activity, as it exposed the authors and readers to harassment, arrest, and imprisonment by the state security agencies. But it also created a network of solidarity, resistance, and cre- ativity among dissidents, intellectuals, and activists, who sought to preserve and share their cultural and political heritage and aspirations. Encrypted group chats are a form of digital communi- cation that uses encryption software and applications to protect the privacy and security of the messages and files exchanged among a group of users. They allow people to communicate and coordinate across borders 177