By Professor Caverna | OPINION
Imagine this: you and your friends are trapped in a virtual reality room. You’ve always lived there, seeing high-definition images, listening to audio, and interacting with perfect avatars. This is the only reality you know. One day, someone turns off the system and opens a door. You step out and realize that everything you thought was “real life” was just a simulation. Welcome to Plato’s Myth of the Cave, version 2024!
Plato, a Greek philosopher from over two thousand years ago, created this story to explain how we see and interpret the world. In the original version, it was about a cave where prisoners saw shadows projected on the wall by objects carried by people behind them. These shadows were all they knew, until one of them escaped, discovering sunlight and the real world. Today, we can translate this to our universe of social networks, fake news and immersive technologies.
Inside Plato’s cave, the prisoners only saw shadows. Now, think about social media: what do you see on Facebook or Instagram? It’s not people’s real lives, but rather an edited and filtered version. These are modern shadows. Someone posts a “perfect day” at the beach, but doesn’t show the ordeal of waiting in line to buy coconut water. Another shares a controversial opinion, but doesn’t reflect on the facts behind the matter. Everything becomes a spectacle of shadows, just like the prisoners in the cave.
And what about the algorithms? They act as the owners of the cave, projecting only what they want you to see. After all, if you only consume memes and funny videos, you will hardly see anything outside this bubble. Thus, the digital cave traps everyone in what seems to be real, but is actually just a slice of the world.
Now comes the most interesting part: what if you were the prisoner who escaped? In the myth, the path out of the cave is difficult and painful. It's like when you realize that much of what you believed about the world was fake or superficial. For example: remember the impact of fake news in recent situations? Many people believed in shadows (false information) without questioning the sources. Leaving the cave requires courage to face the light, that is, the truth. In the modern world, this can mean seeking reliable information, learning to check sources and even reducing the time spent in digital bubbles. It's like turning off automatic mode and starting to see reality in a broader and more critical way.
In Plato’s myth, the prisoner who leaves the cave and discovers the real world has a mission: to return and tell others. But when he does, the prisoners think he’s gone crazy. Doesn’t that sound familiar? Try explaining to someone addicted to conspiracy theories that they’re wrong. The resistance is huge! But if we translate this idea to 2024, the mission of those who “wake up” is to create more conscious content, share real perspectives and encourage others to leave their own caves. It’s like when you show a documentary or recommend a transformative book to a friend who only watches shallow entertainment. It’s slow work, but necessary!
The Myth of the Cave continues to be more relevant with each passing year, because it makes us reflect on how we interpret what is real. In a world where the metaverse and social media create so many shadows, leaving the cave means learning to question, seek true knowledge and help others do the same. After all, in the light of truth, you find something that no filter or algorithm can offer: FREEDOM!!!!
Note: Dear reader, the objective here is to stimulate your philosophical reflection, nothing more! nothing more!
“They took the primate out of the jungle, but not the jungle out of the primate” Prof Caverna
Caverna is a Philosophy professor, digital content creator and coordinator of the “Café Filosófico” project in Foz do Iguaçu.
Excellent post Professor Caverna. Very well written. Thank you for bringing it to light.
I really liked the analysis, congratulations!!!