this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2024
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

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"Touching grass" is the modern equivalent of Plato's allegory of the cave (lemmy.ml)
submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/showerthoughts
15 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

When we get too involved in online matters, disconnecting from the internet and getting a hold of the real world is an analogy to the Greek Philosoper's work

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[–] ComicalMayhem 45 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Imma need a full report and analysis posted on philosophy memes

[–] [email protected] 26 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I better stop smoking weed then

[–] [email protected] 29 points 4 months ago (1 children)

that's touching grass

[–] ChihuahuaOfDoom 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

More like burning grass...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

But it’s a controlled burn 🤓

[–] ChihuahuaOfDoom 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I lost all of my weed in a series of small fires.

[–] naticus 1 points 4 months ago

It was arson.

[–] slazer2au 8 points 4 months ago

Or do more?

[–] TheBananaKing 26 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I mean not really, kind of the opposite.

Touch grass is a call to action - to discard the convenient abstractions enabled by words alone, and to embrace the messy, gritty complexity of physical reality itself.

The allegory of the cave is the opposite: a wry lament about the inherent limitations of perception itself. You can't experience physical reality at all; you're just a bot in the chatroom of your senses, and there's no such thing as stepping outside it. Your senses may be a lot more detailed than words, but it's only a matter of degree.

[–] Hackworth 10 points 4 months ago

Plato didn't believe we're fundamentally limited by our senses in an absolute sense, though. He leaned toward the possibility of transcending the limitations of sensory perception to grasp higher truths.

[–] pedrosky 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I mean yeah shadows in the cave wall is a pretty great analogy for how we see our world through social media not a lot of nuance or detail

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

teeve/radio before internet, news paper before that and church before peasants learned how to read propaganda.

[–] Boozilla 9 points 4 months ago

What is this grass of which you speak? Is it a new app? Does it have haptic feedback when you touch it? I could really go for some haptic feedback.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Dammit, this is a pretty good shower thought. Fine, have my upvote.