Is the Internet Becoming Our Next Plato’s Cave?
Is it just me, or are these ads getting ‘too good’? Too often, I’m wondering how I was perfectly served an ad for something I only voice a loud — or creepier yet only thought about. It’s not the first time I’ve thought that these platforms are maybe taking it too far, but at the same time, they have to make money, and I don’t want to pay for the service, so who am I to complain?
If game apps have taught me anything, it’s that the free version is always going to be 85% ad time.
If well-placed advertisements were the only problem, then this would be a different article. Our data doesn’t just go to advertisers, however. It directly affects the pages we are suggested and the search results we are shown for our queries. With this tunnel vision, is the Internet — something we traditionally view as an unbiased source — becoming our Plato’s cave?
A Recap of Plato’s Cave
The first time I was introduced to the idea of Plato’s cave was in high school. I don’t remember what the context was, but the story itself stuck with me. It wasn’t until later that I read the full story to see the full message — because yes, there is more to it than how I’ve seen it typically summarized.
The title of the essay by Plato is actually called “Allegory of a Cave” and from The Republic. It’s written as an exchange between Aristotle and a man called Glaucon in which they discuss a thought experiment. In this thought experiment, there are people chained in a cave where they cannot turn their heads or move, so they can only see the back of the cave. Behind them, there is a light source with which their captors can cast shadows on the back of the cave, where the prisoners see these representations. The question arises what happens when one is let out, coming up to the real surface, seeing the sun, and seeing what reality is actually like. How do they react? What is that sudden shift in perception like?
Essentially, the cave is about coming into a new understanding, changing our perception, and looking at how our realities are dependent on what is in front of us with what we can see and understand. It’s not always our fault that we may be ignorant to things we do not know.
How Would the Internet be Our Plato’s Cave?
At the start of the internet boom, sites and resources were added with the best intentions. Slowly more and more people came online. Eventually, we needed a way to quickly and efficiently search for things on the hundreds of thousands — now millions — of pages of content that dwell within it. Google was quick to show up on the scene. It has provided search results for nearly everyone in the world. For a long time, it provided unbiased search results. The search engine would take the words you put into it and would do its best to find the correct answer for that particular search.
Things are changing. And not just with Google.
Think about your Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok feed. It shows you accounts you are already following, specifically content that is already performing well, and it’s not until you’ve scrolled down (past some ads, of course) that you‘re presented with other content that is ‘suggested for you.’ These suggestions are based on ways you have interacted with accounts, content, and ads before.
Google tracks your searches, and when you use something like Chrome, it can follow you around for the entire duration you are using the internet — and then whichever app you may go to if you have used that same Gmail account to log in on it. Not just that, sites use cookies to track your movements on their respective site and where you go when you leave them. This information is kept and combined to create a better image of who you are, what content would be good to share with you, and what advertisements would be best to serve you.
Inherently, this may be a little creepy, but it's hard to see how it would be ethically bad on a surface level. We are knowingly giving our data and information to these groups. We aren’t doing anything wrong, so what do we have to lose, right?
Well, if it stopped at what kind of content we are suggested, then perhaps there wouldn’t be much of a problem. But where this sensitive data and the corresponding content we are shown becomes dangerous is when it comes to the free information we seek out to learn something.
A simple example would be if someone searched for real estate laws in Texas vs. someone in Washington doing that same search. They’re going to be served different content based on their location. This is harmless. But when we are looking for something larger than ourselves, something that has to do with a pandemic, political party, or our health, for example, we are given biased information based on what has been previously gathered. We are fed information that we already believe in — similar to seeing the image of a cat getting scared by cucumber because before, we liked when a cat didn’t quite jump far enough.
This may seem like an extreme leap, but it happens every day. Our brains are already wired to accept information that we’re already comfortable with. That’s why it’s so hard to change our minds and accept that something we once considered fact and law is no longer true. How many of you are still mad that Pluto isn’t considered a planet anymore?
If you aren’t challenging your brain and knowledge pool with new things, then you will live as they did in Plato’s Cave. You won’t know what else is out there, and you won’t even know to question what you are seeing because it's being presented as fact.
What is Left Out from the Summaries of Plato’s Cave
There’s an interesting part to The Allegory of the Cave that is frequently left out when I’ve heard it summarized in the past (you can read it for yourself here). It’s towards the end of the essay and talks about what would happen if someone returned to the cave after going out into the light for a while.
They bring back tales of what lies on the other side, offering insight to those still trapped. The person who has returned can literally no longer see the same way as the audience they are trying to convey these newfound revelations to. To this audience, their once-friend seems crazy. They’ve sipped the kool-aid and can no longer be trusted. These ‘revelations’ are nothing like the reality they believe in and are therefore cast out as incorrect.
We, also seeing the other side, know that this way of thinking is limited. These closely held beliefs are simply unchallenged, and ignorance isn’t just bliss; it is comfortable. It allows us to remain comfortable — a state that our brain and body prefer.
Today’s Plato’s Cave
When I think of Plato’s Cave, I think of it more as a cavern. We’ve come a long way from the time when Plato originally wrote this story. Countless times, we’ve stretched and squinted against the sun and walked into a higher level of understanding and knowledge. At the same time, it also still applies to when someone returns to those still blinded to the truth, and they are ostracized or even killed. It seems like instead of being in a cave, we are really in an endless cavern that's been blessed with the sun at all levels, but it can create a false sense of all-knowing if we aren’t careful. We can continue to come to the next surface level, but there will always be something else.
I don’t mean to sound pessimistic. Just because there may not be a foreseeable end doesn’t mean we can’t move closer towards it. For example, a huge example actually is the equation for everything that would unite all of science and physics, explaining everything from black holes to spooky quirks. That equation would also have to explain why it itself is necessary. How can we create an equation for everything without first knowing everything and then explaining why it was necessary in the first place? That’s a huge leap — I know, but it's a fun leap.
Alternatively, we can shrink this down to applying this to our own lives. If you’re trying to make a shift and the end may be a distant, shimmering, mirage-type image, it can be challenging to know if you’re making that correct first step. Uncovering the steps, one at a time, can lead you down a path you didn’t know was possible. But you won’t know until you take that first step. You’ll still be in that cave, only looking at the shadows of things you’ve always known.
And always -always- when someone comes back, preaching about something they have discovered, allow them their beliefs. You can examine it, put in the research, learn for yourself, digest what applies to you, and move on. You don’t have to believe blindly, and you don’t have to reject it — you shouldn’t, really. But let people explore the cavern of our reality so they can find their truth just as much as you are finding yours.
