Adam Chambers Midterm Blogpost - To Boldly Know

Adam Chambers

CoPhi #12 MW

Midterm Blogpost

PHIL 1030

 

The scene pans down slowly, showing a simple black wall contrasted with an expansive grid of vibrant yellow lines covering all faces of the room. After a second or two, a single male enters wearing what could only be described as a perfectly average approximation of early 21^st century clothing. He pauses, taking a moment to look around the peculiar space before taking a deep breath and looking to the room’s ceiling.

Adam: “Computer, begin holodeck program CoPhi 12 Epsilon.”

An affirmative beep is heard from somewhere out of view before suddenly, the peculiarly patterned room transforms into a near-identical simulation of the US White House’s oval office, circa the early 2010’s. A nanosecond a later, three humans materialize on the couch across from the young man and all four sit back on their adjacent sofas with surprisingly little curiosity or confusion as to how they came to be there.

Adam: “Hello again Mr Andersen, Mr Baggini, and Mr Warburton. I’ve got some new questions for the three of you, if you’re down for a discussion.”

The three nod in unison and adjust their posturing to get comfortable.

Adam: “I’ll start with this: Do the three of you think that the study or practices of philosophy can help people better learn to respect truth, facts, reality, and one another, and help to reject falsehood, superstition, selfishness, polarization, partisanship, and mutual hostility based on differences of race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, beliefs, et cetera? Why or why not, and, if so, how? I’d also like to ask what you three think this world is going to be and what human life will eventually make of itself.”

The three sit silent for a moment in deep thought before Andersen starts.

Andersen: “Well, philosophy is a pretty wide field, but yeah. I think the study of anything that requires deep thought and investigation of the world outside our own little bubble would be beneficial to anyone who cares enough to put the work in. That being said though, with how things have been going the past couple hundred years, I think you’d be pretty hard pressed trying to get the average American to even study the reality that’s right in front of them, none the less something as big and complex as global problems and philosophical debate. Reality is boring and painful, it’s much easier to reshape the world into something more fantastical and beneficial to them. ‘Much more than the other billion or two people in the rich world, we Americans believe – really believe—in the supernatural and miraculous… we believe the government and its co-conspirators are hiding all sorts of monstrous truths from us—concerning assassinations, extraterrestrials…’(Andersen, F:HAWH, P5) and so on.”

Adam stifles an amused chuckle at the mention of extraterrestrials, but nods in agreement with the rest of Andersen’s statement.

Andersen: “Anyway, yeah, I do think in a perfect world with considerate people, we’d benefit from collectively studying philosophy, but it’s gonna take a lot more than that to fix the real one. As far as our future is concerned, I’d like to think that we’ll figure things out eventually, however until we learn how to manage the flow of custom-tuned sensationalist narratives and get out of our online bubbles, we’re not gonna make much progress.”

Baggini sits up and puts a hand out to contribute to the conversation.

Baggini: “You’ve got some good points, and in light of recent events I’m a bit inclined to agree with you Andersen. The implementation of widespread communication technology across the world has given a voice to many more people than ever before in human history, and, while it can offer the unique opportunities to directly interact with those in other parts of the world, it seems that many forego this opportunity and stick to finding spheres of likeminded people. America has been on the mainstage quite a bit as of late, but even back in the United Kingdom we’ve got a lot of the same issues. As we’ve entered the modern era, ‘the increasing geopolitical power of the Western world means its philosophy has had impacts far beyond its boundaries’ (Baggini, HTWT, Prologue).”

Adam: “Ah I see. So do you feel like it’s something of a losing battle then? Or do you think the world could learn to use these technological advancements to bridge divides in culture, ethnicity, and beliefs?”

Andersen: “Not totally lost, I’d say. If more people took a break from living in their fantasy land for a while it’d be a good start.”

Baggini: “I agree, I think a healthy dose of reality and firsthand experience with international culture and diversity would help a lot of people. I’m by no means an expert, but I’ve spent a bit of time looking into the philosophy of other areas of the world that traditionalist philosophers ignore or write off as ‘folk wisdom’. There’s a lot to be learned from the rest of the world if you don’t try to force it through a narrow Western interpretation. I think if we’re going to collectively find harmony we’ll need at least a working understanding of philosophical methods and insight from *all* of the world, not just the Western lens. For example, ‘harmony in Daoism is most obviously articulated in the balance of yin and yang.’ which you’re probably familiar with. ‘ In the popular Western imagination, [it] represents the eastern embrace of opposites and contradictions, as opposed to the Western binary either/or. This misses the irony that such a description itself creates a binary pair’ by manner of interpretation(Baggini, HTWT, Chapter 20). Western attempts at interpreting Eastern philosophy is rife with these kinds of misinterpretations.”

Adam: “Well said. Making an endeavor to expand ones worldview to.. well.. the rest of the actual world is vital to truly understanding reality and how to better thrive and progress as a collective species. What about you, Mr Warburton? You’ve been a bit silent so far.”

Nigel perks up and clears his throat a bit timidly.

Warburton: “Apologies, I got a bit caught up in thought about the topics at hand. Putting the modern issues of media hyper-saturation, the veritable explosion of truthiness, and growing isolationist sentiments from countries who could help their neighbors the most, I find that looking back to what Aristotle had to say may be helpful. ‘Human beings are political animals… We need to be able to live with the other people and we need system [to keep] the darker side of our nature [in check]. [Aristotle argued that] Eudaimonia can only be achieved in relation to life in a society. We live together, and need to find our happiness by interacting well with those around us…’ (Warburton, ALHoP, Pg 13). If humanity as a whole is to ever reach a collective state of eudaimonia, that is, a state in which everyone is successful, happy, and flourishing, we have to put aside our prejudices and open ourselves to the deeper thought and mindfulness that can come through the pursuit of philosophical enlightenment.”

The other three nod in agreement and, for the first time in a very long time, a contemplative silence befalls the elliptical room as all four sit and collect their thoughts. After a few moments, Adam breaks the silence with a closing question.

Adam: “So. Assuming we figure things out over the next century or two, where do you think humanity is destined to go? What is intelligent life to eventually make of itself?”

Once again, Andersen is the first to speak up.

Andersen: “Well. IF, and that’s one hell of a big ‘if’, society manages to straighten up and focus on the important stuff, I’d say we’re likely to head in the direction of the the ideal picture of success and happiness that society has been fantasizing about for centuries to cope with the dreadful reality of their mundane life. It’ll come with its own set of new challenges though. ‘In Fantasyland, it’s hard for people to know where and when to draw lines or impose limits. Everything’s relative. Everyone has their own truth… [and] imposing ours is judgmental and undemocratic and elitist.’ (Andersen, FHAWH, Pg 391). I’d like to think that in 300 years we’ll be an advanced, spacefaring species with no hunger or greed like in those cheesy sci-fi shows, but who knows.”

A metallic gray door appears on the far wall behind the three philosophers and opens silently, revealing a very startled-looking ensign. After an awkward few seconds of silent, piercing eye-contact between Adam and himself, the red-uniformed young man hastily mashes the wall-mounted keypad, closing the door before it disappears and once again reveals the beige, patterned wall behind it.

Adam: “… yeah, that’d definitely be something. What about you two?”

He gestures to Nigel and Julian.

Baggini: “I think Mr Andersen might be onto something with how prevalent technology and scientific advancements are becoming in the information age. I worry that with those advances and discoveries might come a cold, logical disregard for more open-ended philosophical queries. While a life free from disease, hunger, or greed would meet the physical requirements for human life to grow, I can’t help but think back to 2011 when ‘Stephen Hawking caused a stir by declaring that philosophy is dead. He said that scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in [humanity’s] quest for knowledge… [while] it might indeed be true that some traditionally metaphysical issues, such as the nature of space and time, really are best studied scientifically… to call this the death of philosophy [was] an overstatement’ (Baggini, HTWT, Conclusion). There’s no doubt that humanity will continue to learn, grow, and boldly go where it’s never gone before, but I’d argue that outgrowing our own world and venturing outwardly will only add fresh fuel to the philosophical fire. Especially if we do find someone else out there…”

Warburton shifts around a bit as Baggini finished his thought, then responded.

Warburton: “O-Oh yes the prospect of encountering an extraterrestrial intelligence during the advancement and propagation of our own species could certainly evoke a plethora of philosophical questions akin to Darwin’s journey on the HMS Beagle, only with the frightening possibility of the roles being reversed. Such a first contact could bring societal disturbance similar to how ‘Darwinism… more or less destroyed the traditional Design argument and [shook] many people’s [beliefs]’. Depending on which side is more advanced, they could be ‘too profound for [our] human intellect… A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton.’ (Warburton, ALHoP, Pg 151). Conversely, though, if humanity is the more technologically advanced civilization in such a situation, we must ask whether it would be morally or ethically acceptable to make first contact with their civilization and potentially interfere in their natural development? John Mill would say we should only intervene if they were harming someone else, but who are we to determine what constitutes harm to something we’ve never encountered before!”

Adam leans forward sternly, nods, and gives a soft grunt in agreement.

Adam: “That’s certainly a lot to think about. Perhaps some sort of official… er… Prime Directive would be needed to ensure humanity doesn’t continue its poor track record of first contacts from throughout history. Extraterrestrials or not, though, the prospect of a unified humanity and collectively propelling ourselves to discover all the mysteries of life, the universe, and everything sounds like the best-case scenario. You… we’ve got a long way to go to get there and many questions yet to ponder, but I’m confident we can reach the stars someday.”

“Anyway, I’m afraid that’s all I had time to discuss today, gentlemen. Thank you for the fine discussion. I think next time I’m around, we should delve into some of Descartes’ thoughts on the nature of consciousness and reality! Feel free to discuss it in the meantime while I’m gone.”

Adam stands up from the uncomfortably stiff presidential couch and shakes each of the philosopher’s hands before turning and leaving them to continue their deeply existential discussion.

 

He glances back, taking a final look at the trio as the door closes tightly behind him.

 

“Computer, end program”

Pictures Sourced From:

https://treksphere.com/sponsored-content/truth-or-myth/truth-or-myth-holodecks-and-holograms/

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/us/01oval.html

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/571/kurt-andersen

https://euromind.global/en/nigel-warburton/

https://reasonandmeaning.com/2015/12/11/julian-baggini-whats-it-all-about-philosophy-the-meaning-of-life/