So far, I have enjoyed Plato at the Googleplex far more than
I initially anticipated. I found myself so engaged with the philosophical
dialogue between Plato and the workers at the Googleplex that I didn't even
have time to dread the 60 page reading! Although I can't consider Plato my
favorite philosopher by any means, Goldstein's modern application of his philosophical
concepts gives me a much better understanding and appreciation for him as a
philosopher who I once judged as nothing more than a confused, paradoxical man.
I found the character’s discussion perplexing and even when
the chapter was over, I found myself searching my own mind for moral answers
and deciding whether I believe it is better to rely on moral experts, as Plato
suggested, or crowd-sourcing like google does. What makes it a particularly difficult
contemplation is the analogy to orthodontics that Plato used to support his theory.
Without this comparison, I would immediately assume a democratic attitude about
the matter and insist that “of course crowd-sourcing gives us the most complete
set of information because it combines the knowledge of everyone, limiting us
from the biases of the sparse population of ‘experts.’ However, when looking at
it using Plato’s analogy, I realize that I would feel much more confident that
my teeth would be properly aligned if I accepted the treatment suggested by a
professional orthodontist than if I used a treatment proposed by the majority
consensus of regular people.
I suppose when it comes down to it, this question asks us to
sacrifice either accuracy or well-roundedness when deciding which method should
be used to properly obtain knowledge. Of course, morals add an extra layer of dilemma
because they’re so esoteric when compared to things that can be scientifically
supported. In the end, our best option is to find a way to compromise our
methods so that we have both accuracy and well-roundedness in our conclusions.
(H2)
I have also found myself greatly enjoying this book. I have realized that I learned more than I thought throughout the semester, and realized how the older Philosophers can still be applied to new times. (H1)
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