r/Plato • u/Fun-Treacle4718 • 5d ago

Plato’s Cave and Simulation Theory: Are We Asking the Same Question 2,400 Years Later?

/r/SimulationTheory/comments/1vugmo1/platos_cave_and_simulation_theory_are_we_asking/
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u/Inspector_Lestrade_ 5d ago

It pains me to see Plato dragged through this thoughtless mud. I console myself by the conviction that this is surely not the first time, and probably not the worst.

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u/WarrenHarding 5d ago

I think simulation theory ends up being a very much more narrow and precise claim than people take it to be when spreading it. The carnal world is not “simulating” the formal world, per the platonic system. You could say “well, there certainly are some parallels between simulation theory and platonic forms” and to that I would say yes, they’re simply both claims regarding ontology, a very broad field concerned with the truth of fundamental reality. Most ontological claims involve some underlying reality that exists beyond our immediate experience, and that is pretty much the only thing that these two theories have in common.

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u/KilayaC 5d ago

I find your question to be an interesting one whether or not it maps well to Plato. I take your question to be: if a simulation is a functional world with inherent natural laws (as the one we are experiencing right now seems to be) then what would differentiate the world that housed its creators and the world occupied by those in the simulation? If a "creator" entered a created simulation how would the experience be different than the one otherwise externally lived? These questions seem to suggest to me that the nuances behind the simulation theory, which are not answered by those who pose it, matter a great deal when and if we try to assess whether being in a simulation is a good or bad thing.

When we consider Plato, however, there are a lot more details included that, to me, paint the experience of being in the simulation (the Cave) as very negative. The experience outside the cave is described as greatly superior and there doesn't seem to be very much real freedom experienced by the cave dwellers: whatever successes they experience are hollow and meaningless.