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The philosophy of Plato’s Cave | Olivier Rivalland | TEDxYouth@LBIS


hey everyone I’m going to tell you that
everything you see smell hear touch and
taste isn’t actually real well at least
not in the way you think of reality
now you yes indeed you’re sitting on a
chair and I’m dead giving you what will
hopefully be amazing TED talk let’s keep
our fingers crossed but what do you
think of as reality and what you see and
perceive cannot necessarily be called
one of the same before we begin I’d like
to mention that Lord conspiracy theories
yet tell me that the government is lying
to us the moon landing was sake we’re
being manipulated by lasers from the
Constitution Draco though I won’t be
made to do something is possibilities
I’m just it make you understand one
simple fact
everything you’ve lived until now isn’t
real when are this not I to think of it
us so let me bring an old friend of ours
in to help us in the year 300 ad BC
Peter wrote his Socratic dialogue the
Republic in which she claims is allegory
of the cave depicted by a simple story
from which it draws its name in this
allegory Pedro likens the masses and
educated in his philosophy of ideals and
frees us tied up in a cave unable to
turn the heads or do anything else but
stare at the wall improve them up in
which the shadows are projected from a
source of light behind them their
jailers employed new some puppets to
trick them and make them reach false
conclusions wrong about the surroundings
the prisoners haven’t seen anything but
shadows the entire life having grown up
in the cave
believing them to be real objects and
the extent of their reality in certain
versions of the Pythagorean one prison
is released and allowed to explore the
outside world after overcoming a small
build event and shop and having its
entire variety turned upside down and
discovering that when he fought was the
basis of existence with shadows
reflections of real objects he returns
the cave to inform his brethren of his
discoveries
I’m not saying that that they’ve been
living a lie and the jailers have been
lying to them he’s talking to informed
that his shoot on sight had turned him
stupid and insane and all his attempts
at freeing them or showing them reality
were met with physical violence and
denial now he uses this allegory takes
ministerial forms and five son dreams
IBM philosophical philosopher Kings at
that site is as an example how easy we
can be to lend to false conclusions if
were allowed to draw our own conclusions
from limited data and now says now waves
can be even if those ways are wrong I’d
like to skim the surface a bit more and
it’s named how reflections or images of
real objects can help us understand is
in vigil his republics such as the
shadows would have helped the prisoners
and inside the surroundings had they
known the true nature of the shadows
when they often be confused by the real
thing and listen lead to only conclusion
for example if a book had been waived in
profile and that image projected upon
the wall as in the former shadow the
princess might of having some discussion
come to the conclusion and named it a
book but they were the name in the
shadow of the book and not as a shadow
and on the book the item itself and that
is an important distinction as we will
come to see data now what extraordinary
thing about sin agree is that the freed
prisoner despite owning the entire world
turned upside down and discovering that
the entire basis of this reality were
back shadows never once considered the
possibility never once doubts and thinks
that maybe this new world this real
world the one we live in is again by the
new set of shadows a fact that you may
be surprised to find out is actually
true let me thank you
in the case of eyesight many of you are
honest I’m single that what we see is
that waves of light reflective objects
and certain wavelengths reaching your
eyes others will understand
that this goes further than that the
wavelengths of process fire eyes to
create an epsilon image which is then
coded into impulses central optic nerve
Cobre when image is created this is the
image you see every day and the shadow
you’ll be confusing with the real thing
this distinction is fine but in cortex
let me walk you through a crude metaphor
in the case of company surveying the
amount of workers employed a way of
seeing without shadows we live director
survey or registered employees and keep
track of them that way I will do things
is more like counting how much product
st. Louis creates Cal which would be the
wavelength and says calculating how much
employees are their own prom that would
fit the absolute image tabulating
information the impulses tropic curve
and then creating a visual
representation some pie chart or crops
which would be the image nor brain an
important part of this is that we would
wind and the Sun the data until it
reaches final stage and what both reach
the same conclusion Yin and portraits of
seen data it is easy to confuse the
products with employees and find Rick
forgets that they are just a way of
measuring the vegetable Point C and of
the measurable quantity itself the same
is true for other four senses flex for
example is quite interesting we never
actually touch anything
discover a fraction of a fraction of a
fraction or distance above the surface
of the object the electron repulsion
forces that keep us away from this
object are registered on feedings
fingers sorry and eventually the
information reaches our brain where and
if you know process not dissimilar to
one of eyesight
the feelings are stimulated so when you
touch a smooth object graph object or
City objects or any other texture you
are not actually feeling that texture
but you’re feeling a simulation from you
a base of what you know about that
objects the entire situation is similar
to our brain curve collecting
information about the outside world to
run a simulation almost identical for
all practical purposes to the outside
world and then allowing us and by
extension our bodies our actions to
react to the real world by reacting in
real practice situation
we have created a matrix of our own a
self-made simulation we have trapped
ourselves in our own cave being both the
jailer and the prison in this case now a
way of seeing without shadows if both
voltage and impractical and a courtesan
downright impossible our simulation
Souza’s just fine color moments and is
for practical purposes pretty ideal we
wouldn’t even know how to approach the
problem of sitting on the steps and
going directly to the real object
without seeing its image however keeping
is the kind of perspective on life helps
us all situations and problems that may
otherwise be best reflects for example
the author of the famous color-changing
dress is it’s black and black and blue
all white and gold if you think about it
in perspective the answer is pretty
meaningless because there’s no dress
what you see here is just a digital
image consisting of very small pixels
and that’s I mean what you see what you
see isn’t as I said before an image
created by a brain-based of the
wavelengths coming off these pixels
before those would really like to know
the truth the truth but the color
changing dress
remembering the perspective of Nicholas
Kade helps us a lot if you remember this
I’ve got an image reflection of a real
object and I address itself you may
think to zoom into individual pixels of
the image and let’s find the image the
color of the overall image so if this
concept in health and saw such a
perplexing pingas forget simple problem
of the dress imagine what you’d do if
you apply this to your whole reality
thinking that everything you see in
smelter or otherwise sell for your
senses isn’t actually real
now after now in our self-made matrix oh
okay
we’ve had a prisoner a jailer a wall of
shadows and a fire but no purpose
thought of it yes this may not say the
same for my shelter with the increasing
innovation in domains like neuroscience
and the emergence of new lace
technologies with every day we run a
higher risk of an invasion into our own
little private matrixes having our
simulations affected by artificial
shadows having the sanctity about a
bridge so before you move on to your
next activity say on your neck so think
about how everything in your office say
and how this can affect your life thank
you
[Applause]
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