A Philisophical Introduction
“As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.” - Socrates
Don’t trust all the shit you read on the internet.
Now, I know some random person on the internet is saying that to you, so that leaves us with a conundrum…
Do you trust me or not?
On the one hand, it’s fair to assume that a good portion of active internet users have been warned by some grandpa or great aunt to not trust everything they see on Facebook. So, that’s reasonable and sound advice. Especially if it’s coming from multiple independent sources, right?
On the other hand, we consult Google when we need to find answers to serious questions. You know, if you’re replacing the brake pads on your vehicle, you would reasonably turn to random people on the internet, assuming they have the credentials… A blog about vehicle maintenance and repair. Maybe a YouTube channel with a low resolution mechanic video from 5 years ago. Somehow, those strangers on the internet are now the most qualified person to trust with your life and safety. So… that makes the not trusting the internet thing a little more complex.
On the third(?) hand, how do we know anything for real, for real? Like humans believed that the sun revolved around the Earth for a long fucking time. When Copernicus discovered that ACTUALLY the Earth revolved around the sun, it was seen as a foolish idea and was dismissed and demonized by the people of his time. You know the assholes that Copernicus had to deal with to make history. Eventually enough time went by and the theory held true so now we look back on Copernicus as a brilliant man. That’s cool and all, but the issue I run into is how many of our current societal beliefs follow the same principle? We accept as fact until one “crazy” person challenges our understanding of the world and the cosmos, and then they are ridiculed and attacked until a few generations later when eventually society is capable of acecpting new ideas.
On the fourth hand (how many hands does the AI think we have?!?), there are plenty of resources on the internet that are trash. Think about the deep comment section of reddit when the debate at hand is if the Earth is flat or not… Those voices on the internet are probably not ones you want to outsource your opinions to. Marcus Aurelius said it best: “The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value is none of them know anything about the subject.” So maybe don’t trust your angry uncle’s perspective on the world if all he ever does is listen to other angry conspiracy theorists in the dark alleys of the internet.
The thing I like about the internet, is that is allows humans the opportunity to learn information at a pace that is unprecedented for our evolutionary history. And with some reason, open-mindedness, and a willingness to challenge core beliefs, humans are very capable of change.
So should we believe everything we read on the internet?
Like here me out…
Everything you read on the internet technically exists. Someone or something wrote it, whether that is a person, a computer, or an angry monkey hitting a keyboard for 5 years who just happened to re-write all of Shakespeare’s plays.
We can all agree that computers and the internet objectively exist, right? I hope so at least, or else I probably look really fucking crazy staring into thin air for hours a day and suddenly getting money in my bank account.
I don’t have to agree with everything I see on the internet, but I can believe that it all exists and either some dude or some AI believes all sorts of crazy things about the world. Is that valuable for us at this point in history? To see the crazy things on the internet that everyone says to not listen to, and learn how to sort through it all and decide for yourself on what you believe about the world?
I’m not advocating that we decide to believe things purely based on what’s available on the internet. That would be fucked up. Like, go outside and walk around and gather information about the world around you and then compare it with what you understand about the world based on the internet.
If everyone is saying that people are trying to murder their neighbors and everyone should be scared for their life, and you have a very pleasant and easy-going relationship with all your neighbors, it’s reasonable to assume two things:
You’re a dope person for having a good relationships with your neighbors. Give yourself a pat on the back.
In another neighborhood, in another city, in another country, that is likely true for someone else and their life is likely far more stressful and traumatic on a daily basis than yours is.
I’m not claiming to have answers about if we should or should not trust the internet. All I know is I don’t know everything about the world, and neither do you.
Stephanie Vaughn <3
