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Plato believed that knowledge is eternal and exists independently of the material world. This means that Plato believed that there is a realm of eternal, unchanging truths or ideas that exists beyond the physical world we experience through our senses. Plato argued that these eternal ideas are more real than the material world, and that they serve as the basis for all knowledge and understanding.

Plato also believed that humans have the ability to access this eternal world of ideas through reason and contemplation. In other words, he believed that humans have the capacity to think deeply about the nature of reality and to understand the eternal truths that underlie the world we experience. According to Plato, this is the highest form of knowledge, and it can only be achieved through the use of our own reasoning and contemplation.

With regard to ChatGPT, Plato might view this type of artificial intelligence as a tool that can potentially help humans access knowledge and understand the world around them. By processing vast amounts of information and providing responses based on that information, ChatGPT can potentially help us learn and understand things that we might not be able to on our own. However, Plato might also caution against relying too heavily on artificial intelligence or machines to do our thinking for us. He might argue that true knowledge comes from within, and that it can only be fully realized through the use of our own reasoning and contemplation. In other words, while ChatGPT and other forms of artificial intelligence can be helpful in certain circumstances, they should not be relied upon too heavily, as they cannot replace the human capacity for thought and understanding.

Charles Darwin was too scared to release his theory of evolution as it would be strongly opposed by the religious as it contradicts the book of Genesis; added his wife was a strong Catholic. This was a time where many theories such as these came to light and opposed the scriptures. The same way the scriptures were ridiculed by those who ruled a nation the times before and proclaimed themselves as the ultimate being, and early humans fighting amongst themselves to take a lead position and rule others, the first early nuclear family fighting over what role they should play to protect themselves from dying because of hunger or being prey to other animals or climate.

This discussion overlaps with "the walking dead" Reddit but I haven't found a discussion that clearly addresses the topic.
So for those of you who watched the show, you will remember the character "King Ezekiel." I believe it is a poem he resights before he goes into battle with the saviors. But the recurring theme is, "..and yet I smile."
I thought of Camus when I heard this. It was as if an entire kingdom had been condemned to certain demise or at least a "tragic" fate. Ezekiel and his followers choose to keep fighting, to keep smiling.
Is this not equivalent to Camus's idea of rebelling against a cold and indifferent world?
"Imagine Sysyphus happy?"

Yeah existential philosophy is just wierd. It's something most people think about but I honestly believe no one really has a clue and the people that do know you can't put some things into words, you can only directly experience a transcendental state.

i would highly recommend listening to some alan watts on YT or wherevs ; his speech/lecture on 'the joker' is one that comes to mind here

=] GL

i guess you could argue that reality would still 'exist' without consciousness

but then again there would be nothing to experience the qualia so how would you know?

XD

its wild/weird stuff , but it only seems that way becuz we were previously led/misled to believe something else/different XD

i would argue its less coop-vs-comp but more a synthesis of both of those processes , ie yin/yang are both at the same time opposing forces and intermingled and two sides of the same whole , duality/non-duality simultaneously

but yes i would definitely agree that a parking lot is a much worse utilization of space/ground than mature trees ; a good compromise would be to have a parking lot either build vertically to take up less ground space and/or incorporate a lot of trees/greenery into the structure itself ; and/or wind/solar generators if/or they could be integrated as well

it seems like these ideas will eventually be understood most everywhere , but we are at a rather painful transitionary period in our timeline where a vast majority of the human population does not understand our intimate and interwoven relationship with our world [ie they have been raised to see a difference/disconnection between man/nature when in reality there is none] , thus fueling the antagonistic approaches

I’d rather go back to the world of dialup and browser based ISP than a world with advanced AI

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

> We have no more idea about what is going on than birds and the trees do, not really

>just our ability to reason

I think you're right to a large extent, but you're severely downplaying us. I feel like this kind of thought is sort of a prisoner putting on their own shackles--you defeat yourself. It's kinda like that old saying "whether you think you can or can't, you're right". Whether you think we have a lonely existential plight, no different than dirt; or are pioneers of creativity and conscious thought, at the apex of creation, you're right. It's really a matter of words to some extent, but words are our tools, and sometimes also our greatest weapons.

There are magnitudes of difference between us and birds (especially trees). It'd be like saying: in a room with one adult and many children, the adult isn't any different and has no idea what's going on more than the children. It is a huge oversimplification. Why revisit later? Visit now. We already can shape time and space--and we already are creating our very first world right here. Will it also be our last? I hope not. I'd encourage you to use your powers to change perceptions in a positive, optimistic way

edit;

think of the quote at the end of the article: ". . . a world still whispering the rumours of that worn out idea put by Dante “the love that moves the sun and other stars"

It reminds me of one by Loren Eiseley on John Donne: >The body is the true cosmic prison, yet it contains, in the creative individual, a magnificent if sometimes helpless giant. John Donne, speaking for that giant in each of us, said: "Our creatures are our thoughts, creatures that are borne Gyants.... My thoughts reach all, comprehend all. Inexplicable mystery; I their Creator am in a close prison, in a sick bed, anywhere, and any one of my Creatures, my thoughts, is with the Sunne and beyond the Sunne, overtakes the Sunne, and overgoes the Sunne in one pace, one steppe, everywhere."

>This thought, expressed so movingly by Donne, represents the final triumph of Claude Bernard's interior microcosm in its war with the macrocosm. Inside has conquered outside. The giant confined in the body's prison roams at will among the stars. More rarely and more beautifully, perhaps, the profound mind in the close prison projects infinite love in a finite room. This is a crossing beside which light-years are meaningless. It is the solitary key to the prison that is man."

Haha yeah I guess!

It's kind of suffocating. That we can't know our reality.

It is true that ChatGPT has received a lot of attention on Reddit and other online platforms, and there may be some individuals who are promoting it heavily in order to benefit financially or otherwise. However, it is also important to recognize that ChatGPT is a highly advanced language model developed by OpenAI, and it has the potential to be a valuable tool in a wide range of applications.

ChatGPT is trained on a massive dataset of human conversation, and it is capable of generating human-like text that is often difficult to distinguish from text written by a person. This makes it a useful tool for generating realistic dialogue for chatbots, virtual assistants, and other types of language-based systems. It can also be used for tasks such as translation, summarization, and text generation.

In terms of its potential impact, ChatGPT has the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with computers and machines, allowing us to communicate with them more naturally and easily. It could also be used to improve customer service, reduce the need for manual data entry, and assist with tasks such as language translation.

Overall, while it is important to be cautious about the hype and potential financial motivations behind some of the positive coverage of ChatGPT, it is also important to recognize the significant potential that this technology has to offer.

-- written by chatGPT

We can also just ask chatGPT to write what it thinks Plato would have argued:

> It is difficult to say for certain how Plato would argue for the use of AI in schools, as he lived over 2,000 years ago and did not have the benefit of modern technology. However, based on his philosophical writings, it is possible to speculate on how he might approach the subject. > > Plato was a strong believer in the power of education and the importance of seeking truth and knowledge. In his dialogue "The Republic," he outlines his vision for an ideal society, in which the education of young people is a central concern. He emphasizes the importance of teaching students to think critically and independently, and to develop their mental and moral capacities to the fullest. > > Given this focus on education and the cultivation of wisdom and virtue, it is likely that Plato would see the potential for AI to enhance and support the learning process. For example, he might argue that AI can be used to provide personalized and tailored instruction to students, helping them to progress at their own pace and to better understand the material they are learning. AI could also be used to provide a greater variety of educational resources and opportunities, allowing students to explore different subjects and areas of interest more deeply. > > Additionally, Plato might see the use of AI as a way to help students develop important skills for the future, such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and adaptability. These skills are likely to be increasingly important in the rapidly changing world of the 21st century, and the use of AI could provide students with valuable experience and practice in using these skills. > > Overall, while it is impossible to say with certainty how Plato would view the use of AI in schools, it is likely that he would see it as a valuable tool for supporting and enhancing the learning and development of young people. > -- written by chatGPT

Following that.

The universe is composed of a multitude of atoms that come together to form objects. The world is governed by a principle of cosmic sympathy in it's natural state. Some things are inherently in accordance (sympatheia) with one another. Some things clash, and some things have more sympathy than others. When they reach their natural state, they reach harmonies with other things in accordance with them.

But the question is do we really need to believe that everything is connected to everything, to act in a good or moral way?

Where do you teach? Germany here..:)

Such an interesting read

Doomed to be both the observer and the one being observed, but never allowed to be either entirely. Until death maybe!

I feel like I just enjoyed a five page poem but even so, i'm still a pessimist in regards to this lonely existential plight people seem to think we have. We are no different to any of the other creatures in my view, its just our ability to reason and manipulate the world has been abstracted out to the extreme until we think ourselves seperate but we really aren't. We have no more idea about what is going on than birds and the trees do, not really. It might be worth revisting when we can shape time and space and create worlds though.

Upanishad is a religious text.. what’s it from again or about? It’s been a while

Which quote?

> And solving a moral dilemma doesn't look at all like solving a problem in physics.

Agree, but listening to a lot of people talk with supreme confidence about what "is" the "right" thing to do, it seems like this idea is not very broadly distributed.

> oftentimes "solving" a moral problem or dilemma means deciding on a course of action. And we certainly do that all the time

Right, but the chosen course doesn't have to be right/correct, it only has to be adequate for the maximum number of people, something that I don't see The Man putting a lot of effort into discerning. If no one ever checks in with The People, should we be all that surprised when they are mad at we don't know why (though not to worry: memes "explanatory" "facts" can be imagined into existence and mass broadcast into the minds of the population in days, if not faster).

On Consequentialist and Categorical Moral Thinking

These ways of thinking about morality are skewed. Morality is more than an objective truth. It's also about untruth. That is the trolley problem has no practical solution because you can not objectively reason your way to an answer as you do with a math problem. Thus what ends up happening is people unconsciously use bias to come to a solution. I think its a problem relating to risk communication more than anything.

>"Solving" things can only be done in deterministic problem spaces, like physics

I think its more a matter of "solving" things in one domain looking quite differently than in another domain. And solving a moral dilemma doesn't look at all like solving a problem in physics. But that doesn't mean it doesn't happen; oftentimes "solving" a moral problem or dilemma means deciding on a course of action. And we certainly do that all the time.