>> Hey.
>> Have you heard of the philosopher Plato 
from Ancient Greece?
>> Well, yeah.
Everybody in [UNKNOWN] has heard of him. 
Hey, wait.
Is he the guy who wrote that story, the 
Allegory of the Cave?
>> Yeah, it is amazing.
>> Will you tell me the story?
>> Of course.
>> Okay, so the story starts with a bunch of
guys tied up, and shackled, in a cave.
>> Whoa, say what? 
Why are they tied up?
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00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:28,148
>> It does not matter.
They are prisoners letting [UNKNOWN]. 
Anyway, suppose these guys are tied up
for 10, 20, or even 50 years. 
Their hands are tied and their faces are
shackled so they can't move their heads.
>> Wait, I saw this movie. 
There is a camera and instructions and
one guy has to saw through his leg to get 
the key, right?
>> No, you are thinking of Saw.
>> Oh, I know.
Was Hannibal Lecter there?
>> What? 
No, are you just, no.
No. 
No.
And there were no monsters or robots or 
orcs in the cave either.
As I was saying, year after year the 
prisoners can only stare at the cave wall
in front of their faces. 
Now, the door to the cave is behind the
men. 
So, every time the wind blows the tree or
an animal walks by, they can only see the 
shadows on the wall.
>> Does Plato want Ivan?
>> What?
Plato is not there.
>> What about Gandalf?
>> Just shut up and listen to the story. 
Year after year, the prisoners see only
shadows in front of them. 
This is no reality.
This becomes their reality. 
Suppose Plato says one of the prisoners
suddenly escapes. 
He runs from the cave screaming with
delight but suddenly he encounters actual 
reality he realizes that the shadows he
has looked up for years are not real at 
all.
>> Woh.
What a total mind freak, man.
>> Now, Plato says that free man has a moral 
problem.
Should he go back inside the cave and 
free his friends?
>> Well, duh.
That is easy. 
Of course, he should free his friends and
maybe bring them a pizza, too.
>> Maybe it is not so simple. 
If the man frees his friends, they will
have the same mind freak that he did 
about reality.
Plato is asking us a question about 
morality.
Is morality really a black or white 
paradigm or are the answers more
subjective? 
Is the moral decision to give your
friends freedom if it ruins their minds 
or is it more moral to let them be blind
to the truth, if the truth will hurt them 
more?
>> Wow.
I should have drunk a Red Bull before 
listening to this.
>> Plato does two things in this story.
He makes us question our own morality. 
And, he makes us examine the very nature
of what is real versus what we just 
perceive to be real.
In actuality, Plato is setting the stage 
for existentialism and great philosophers
like Carroll, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche. 
This is why Plato is one of the most
famous philosophers in human history.
>> Wow, what a great story. 
You want to go get some pizza?
