/lit/ - Literature

Yes, we are living in Hyperreality. Read Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation

the cave is my favorite allegory

What I want to know is at what point knowingly staying in the cave becomes healthier than trying to navigate our bizarre reality.

>>15445228
Directed to my first assessment, this time assuming that the internet is not a real representation of the world, which is an easy assumption that many of you will agree with, would there be any real benefit from leaving the cave and switching the world view away from the internet.

>I am not talking about nofap, internet addiction or NEET lifestyle not am I talking about VR simulation.

With the shadows Plato talked about being as complicated as what we have today and the easy ability to leave and re-enter the "cave", why are world views so polarized?

Many people I know, myself included, express preference falsification on many topics like politics, romance, social issues and behavior. They hide or express views depending on the reality they are immersed, wether it be out of the cave or in front of the shadows.

>>15445228
Delete all social media and focus on cultivating meaningful relationships. Everything will become clearer and more grounded. We are no longer present in the physical world and social media is a spiritual disaster for ge human race.

>>15445228
>Has the allegory of the cave become more indicative of the lives of people in the contemporary world?
Yes, because people are mostly raised from birth in industrialized first world countries and in other countries who have adopted their educational style to believe in the lies of materialism, equality, progress and democracy; whereas in the ancient world these views were not forced down people's throats and hence people didn't begin farther from the truth like modern peoples do

>>15445228
theres not just one cave and theres not just one area outside of the cave. quit it with the black and white retarded thinking dressed up in overwritten garbage. you dont have it in you to be a thinker. you may be a reader but youll never be a thinker

>>15445228
Read deleuze’s book on Nietzsche and the appendix of logic of sense. A lot of his work is responding to Platonism and this allegory in particular vis a vis the contemporary.

>>15445272
That is a good point and I will ponder about such a time in the future that a choice like that could be made. More extreme than a choice similar to such that one could make today.

>>15445228
More access to the real information gets you out of the cave though. Arguable the exact opposite.

>>15445288
Many people in our society would agree with that statement. Have you done this?

Could you philosophize your experience for me? I don't care about the positivity from an endeavor because I think it is self evident. Thanks.

>>15445297
You write in all lowercase, fuck off. Thanks for the bump, but you don't understand what I am getting at and that is fine if you didn't start with the Greeks.

>>15445290
>whereas in the ancient world these views were not forced down people's throats

They had their own unique views that were pushed no? Culture, religion, expectations of behavior, who the enemy is and so on and so on.

>>15445258
Thanks for the rec, never heard of this book or the ideas in it from what I just read on the wiki.

>>15445319
Absolutely. I have deleted Facebook and Instagram from my phone, along with any and all dating apps, and only use texting, Facebook messenger, and an occasional Snapchat to send videos or nice messages to close friends. I think about what Plato theorized, how our souls are tethered in some sort of ether with horses and chariots and all this other bullshit and how in constantly using social media I felt that I was no longer inside of my body. I would get into this sort of trance where I was judging my life against the snippets of others (events which bear no context on reality. One may post something exciting and have nothing to share for a week until the next exciting thing happens, creating the illusion of a sophisticated and exotic life). Often I have practiced self-healing Tex Kaye’s such as CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) to ground myself, but now that I am far less tangled in the ether of social media, of those para-social interactions, I feel less like abebung living in a loose and gaseous State, and something more securely solid. My thoughts are more focused, my interactions with human beings are more genuine, and my close circle of friends has greater value to me. In this time of the virus it’s especially helpful because now without that world to escape into I can see quarantine more for what it is, myself trapped in one place rather than trying to squeeze through the internet to escape from it. The closest thing I have to that is the fun and unfiltered ideas discussed in this board. I feel a lot calmer and my thoughts do not race as much. When we focus our mental bandwidth on fewer things, the depth of our attention to reading, art, and mediation increases tenfold.

>>15445393
I liked reading about your experience and i'm proud of you for overcoming it, even if you don't see it as such. Thank you.

>>15445330
i hope to god you're esl with the way you're showing incompetency in expressing ideas in english

>>15445462
Is it my own incompetency or your lack of information processing skills, no doubt a failing of your own, even after sounding out the words I typed.

>>15445344
>Culture, religion, expectations of behavior, who the enemy is and so on and so on.
those don't impede spiritual progress and degrade society like the others do, they are a normal and helpful part of human society at all times in history

He was telling nerds to go outside. How did nerds overthink this?

>>15445228
This post is why we need to dismantle academia.

>>15445546
That is a fair point

>>15445283
I know people on both sides of the political spectrum who are very entrenched in their ideologies, and if you were to explain the allegory of the cave to them, they would think they themselves are the ones standing outside in the Sun while the people on the other side of the spectrum are staring at the shadows on the cave wall. This only points that Gnosis cannot be found in the political nor can it lead to Gnosis.

>>15445583
No, it's why you should be over 18 before trying to read Plato.

>>15445393
Hmm. I wonder what you would say if I proposed that leaving the cave was diving into the internet instead of fleeing from it?
Bullshit proposal? Deep and based?

>>15445427
Thank you. I’ve been doing this for about a month now and I’ve taken to checking Instagram and Facebook about once a week or so to see if there are any events, things I want to buy on yard sale, or direct messages. Treating it like another email inbox feels like a healthy balance.

>>15445718
Maybe a mix of bullshit, deep, and based. It depends on the individual person and their existing relationship with these things. I come here and enjoy it immensely because of the conversations like this one where I get to talk with interypeople like you. I would answer your preposition by saying that maybe the cave has two entrances and exits. One brings us to the more noble savage world of simplicity and grounded presence of what’s right in front of us, the real world and our ability to yank ourselves from Plato’s ether like I described. The other is the door you describe where I can acknowledge the positive aspects of social technology. People have used it to overthrow shorty governments, raise money for good causes, analyze disease patterns, and do many more incredible and useful things. I used a crowdfunding platform linked to Facebook and Instagram accounts to raise he money I needed to fly far away and make a documentary in a remote location. Without social media I would have had a much wider time doing that. I think the key is to know how to utilize it for practical applications like those I listed without falling into the cognitive abstractions, self-worth comparisons, echo chambers, etc. We've allowed this tool to change our health in the same way the steam engine led to increased cancer rates. Now that we have a better understanding of its ill effects, we can move past them and distill what’s good about it.

When you say leaving the cave with technology hat has some pretty far-reaching implications. Are we talking about present-level technology or potentially expanding our minds with cybernetics and other things? Transhumanism?

This is one of my favorite trails with my favorite dog, and I will share a photo of it directly with you because we’re having a conversation. I no longer feel the masturbatory impulse to post it on my Instagram story. Whenever I did that I felt I was no longer there in that beautiful field, and the process of documenting beauty destroyed my perception and appreciation of it.

>>15445803
>Treating it like another email inbox feels like a healthy balance.
Love this. I think I would feel good about having a lot of social media notifications build up like I do with my work inbox over a weekend.


Your dog is very cute; nice pic anon,
> I used a crowdfunding platform linked to Facebook and Instagram accounts to raise he money I needed to fly far away and make a documentary in a remote location.
That's fucking cool.
>When you say leaving the cave with technology hat has some pretty far-reaching implications. Are we talking about present-level technology or potentially expanding our minds with cybernetics and other things? Transhumanism?
I'm struggling to answer that but it is making me think.

Thanks again for the responses and I find your inward-esque outlook on the context of the thread very comfy :)