Is nature describable by mathematics, or are the rules we devise merely a shortcut to fit the universe onto a few pages of equations?

Do we discover physics, or do we invent it?

Is physics simply a map, or is it the territory itself?

Ancient Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle wrestled with the nature of reality long before we had telescopes, quantum mechanics, or AI.

Aristotle versus Plato: The battle of knowledge

Aristotle was an empiricist – he believed knowledge comes from observation and experience. Everything is constantly changing, but we can study the world with our senses.

Example? We know what a pig is because we see it, compare it to other animals, and recognize its features.

But wait – can we trust our senses?

A few centuries ago, people saw sunrises and sunsets and concluded that the sun orbits earth. That turned out to be wrong. Our senses tricked us.

Plato, one the other hand, was a rationalist – he believed that true knowledge does not come from the physical world as everything here constantly changes.

Instead, he proposed the idea of a world of perfect Forms – unchanging, pure concepts that exist beyond our perception.

 Sounds abstract? Maybe… But let us go deeper.

Plato ‘s cave

Plato came up with the analogy of the cave to vividly illustrate his philosophical ideas:

Imagine prisoners chained in an underground cave. They have been there since bith. 

Those poor prisoners have never seen the outside world and can only see shadows projected on the wall in front of them, caused by objects passing in front of a fire behind them.

To them, these shadows are reality. They do not know that an entire world exists outside the cave.

The escaping prisoner

One day, a prisoner breaks free and ventures outside the cave. He realized he has been living in an illusion, in a shadow world – must be shocking, right?!

Now, imagine he goes back into the cave and attempts to pass on his new knowledge to the other prisoners?

They would not believe him, call him crazy, and might even want to kill him.
They are so comfortable in their illusion that they reject the truth.

Are we prisoners on our own caves?

Plato ‘s cave is not just a cool – or rather weird- story, to is an invitation to rethink reality.

• The prisoners represent ordinary people - you, me, and that strange guy from next door.
• The cave represents our world, and the shadows our everyday sense experiences.
• The outside world represents a deeper reality that most people never question.

Sounds strange and unrealistic? But ask yourself: How do you know you are not in a cave right now?

If we ever question our assumptions, aren’t we just like those prisoners? The cave is our own ignorance.

Can we escape the cave by going to college, study science and philosophy?

The cave of science

Science itself is a journey of escaping caves.

We were really confident in Newtonian mechanics. Then the great Einstein along with other physicists introduces quantum mechanics, space-time curvature… Suddenly, we realized we had been living in a cave of classical physics. Now, we are really confident in quantum mechanics, relativity and other theories.

But what if we just jumped from one cave to another, from one illusion to a different one…?!

The cave analogy simply teaches us to question the world and consider the possibility that our senses mislead us.

Quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics took things even further: Particles behave differently when we observe them. (One could assume they have consciousness and see when we observe them and want to tease us…)

Reality is not as solid as it seems. Learn more about reality here.

Social media

Plato, the OG influencer, would have had a lot to say about social media.

On social media, we daily feed our brain with videos, photos…. Algorithms filter this content.

Algorithms only show you one perspective – the one you like and engage with most. You start believing that this limited view is the whole reality.

Social media feeds us shadows – a version of reality designed to keep us inside the cave.

The bigger picture: does it even matter?

We all live in different caves – science, social media, personal beliefs...

And maybe the real question is whether we should care. If we are happy, does is matter if we are living in an illusion?

Should we seek the truth, even if it makes life harder? Or should we stay in the cave, enjoying the shadows?

At the end of the day, you decide.