Blog 2

The Allegory of The Cave through History

A very common misconception in history was geocentricity, the belief that the earth was the center of the universe, and that everything in the universe moved around it. This came about from observations on the Sun and the stars around us, and how they seemed to be revolving around the earth, which from our perspective felt stable and not in motion through space.

This phenomenon is also referenced in the bible: “Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved.” (Chronicles 16:30) Another argument used was that the sun was supposed to have been created on Day 4. How could the earth have revolved around a non-existant object for three days? It was only logical in their minds that since the earth was created first, that if the sun was created after it, it had to have revolved around the earth.

This makes me wonder – did people believe in the idea of geocentricity because the “facts” were in the bible? Or did they accept this belief to be true blindly so they could justify the validity of the bible? Were they lead to this belief because this was what it looked like in the cave in which they lived in their whole lives, or did they choose to believe in it so that they would not have to leave the cave that they so desperately want to believe was the truth?

Summary of the Allegory of the Cave

The Allegory of the Cave is a conversation between two men - Socrates, and his disciple Glaucon. He describes a cave, which has an opening towards the light. In this cave are men, chained to face the back of the cave so they are unable to turn around. Behind the chained men, is a fire with a raised pathway between them and that fire. He continues by saying that there are other men crossing this pathway. Some are carrying objects, some are making sounds - some are not. The chained men, unable to turn their heads, would only see the shadows of the men and objects cast onto the back of the cave which they face. If these men were to talk to each other, it can be assumed that they would try to give names to these shadows, and if the sounds were to be echoed back from the wall, it would sound like these noises came from the shadows themselves. As a result, the truth to them would be that all that existed were moving shadows that could produce sound. If one of these men were to be freed, he would stand up and turn around and be pained by the glaring light. He would be unable to accept the fact that everything he had been seeing his whole life was just an illusion. He still clings to the belief that the objects he saw were truer than what he is seeing now. Because he is still unaccostomed to the light, he will find that his former reality is much clearer than what is being shown to him now. But as he sees and learns about the world around him, he will remember those other men whom he used to be chained up with. He will feel pity for them, as he has now seen the truth and is much wiser than them. If he were to return to his former cave, his eys, now used to the light of the outside world, would now be unable to see in the darkness of the cave. The chained men would say that he is now blind to their truth, and would not even consider what he is trying to tell them about the "true" world outside the cave.

Blog 1

Religion was a big part of my life growing up. I grew up in a Buddhist household, and the after-school I attended was a Christian program. As a result, I was exposed to both religions' beliefs and rituals throughout my childhood. Though I did not believe in a single belief, this environment caused me to believe in the existence of deities in general. I thought there really were “people” up in the sky, that made the world run, and that judged our actions.

As I got older, took science courses, and applied logic to my thoughts, this belief slowly disappeared. I now consider myself an agnostic atheist. I don’t believe in the existence of deities anymore, because I believe that at this point in time, it is impossible to prove – or disprove – their existence.

I think that our biggest “cave” is our world. I think that our entire universe is simply a simulation. As our society advances technologically, we will eventually be capable of running simulations of entire worlds and universes. As each universe advances in time and technology, it is only logical that they, too, will eventually be able to run similar simulations of their own. Given that there would be an innumerable amount of these “universal simulations,” I think it is statistically more likely that we are one of the many simulations as opposed to being the first to actually run them.

This leads back to my belief in deities - "people that made the world run". Assuming that we are in a simulated world, then I believe that deities in the traditional sense would be rather unlikely. What would be more likely, though just as impossible to prove, is that what some would consider as deities are just the ones running our simulation.