5 ms·

To add one rung above that, I remember a quote from Jobs's biography to the extent of "I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates."

vijay_nair 8y ago
For anyone wondering how a Steve-Socrates dialog might be like, I found this analogous bit of history: --- Diogenes was in Corinth when Alexander the Great sent word through a messenger asking Diogenes to come see him in Macedonia. Diogenes told the Alexander’s messenger, “Go tell your emperor that Corinth is as far from Macedonia as Macedonia is from Corinth. So if your emperor wants to see me, he can come and find me here.” Irrefutable logic and infinite self-assurance. The last bit can only come from someone who really does not need anything from anyone however high and mighty. Alexander surely was not used to being turned down. But I suppose being a warrior, he admired courage. So he went to Corinth to meet Diogenes. Diogenes was sitting in his tub and enjoying the morning sun when Alexander showed up on his high horse with a whole bunch of soldiers. After a brief introduction, Alexander proudly offered to give Diogenes anything that he needed. “Is there anything I can do for you, Sir?” asked Alexander. Diogenes replied, “Yes, you could. You are blocking the sun. Please stand aside.” --- https://deeshaa.org/2017/03/03/diogenes-of-sinope/ https://deeshaa.org/2017/03/03/diogenes-of-sinope/
- NoB4Mouth 8y ago
  This story was one of the first i heard back in high school during my first courses of philosophy. I still admire the courage and free-thinking spirit of those Greek intellectuals. Imagine some of our current "intellectuals" been called by the White House today. They will be in the hurry to meet the "President". During the visit they will make sure they get some selfies with M. President in order to show it as a life-achievements... Vanity is a common pattern among our modern days intelligentsia
  - fabrika 8y ago
    I'm pretty sure this pattern was also common in Ancient Greece. Diogenes was exceptional.
    - musage 8y ago
      They didn't say all Greek intellectuals were that way, it's qualified with "those". They also aren't saying that all intellectuals today are cowards, it's qualified with "some of". And you know, rolling our eyes at Trump while not talking about Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, sweeping the fact that the grass roots support for Sanders was unprecedented under the rug, not even attempting to see where one might "go from there"... just being constantly amazed and upset at Trump's antics, without using those 4 years for anything good or honest at all, is exactly as good as outright hopping into his lap. Like Bill Hicks said about Basic Instinct, he's a piece of shit, walk away... but no. Let's instead do anything but that, that's the ticket. > Totalitarianism, however, does not so much promise an age of faith as an age of schizophrenia. A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial: that is, when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud. Such a society, no matter how long it persists, can never afford to become either tolerant or intellectually stable. It can never permit either the truthful recording of facts or the emotional sincerity that literary creation demands. But to be corrupted by totalitarianism one does not have to live in a totalitarian country. The mere prevalence of certain ideas can spread a kind of poison that makes one subject after another impossible for literary purposes. Wherever there is an enforced orthodoxy - or even two orthodoxies, as often happens - good writing stops. -- George Orwell, "The Prevention of Literature" This happened, this is the situation. Posts pointing it out get consistently punished instead of engaged with (and replying to what the comment doesn't even say is another form of that) because it is the situation.
  - DonHopkins 8y ago
    Such a contrast with the people who used to live there before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCA39QJUKLM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCA39QJUKLM
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

vijay_nair 8y ago

For anyone wondering how a Steve-Socrates dialog might be like, I found this analogous bit of history: --- Diogenes was in Corinth when Alexander the Great sent word through a messenger asking Diogenes to come see him in Macedonia. Diogenes told the Alexander’s messenger, “Go tell your emperor that Corinth is as far from Macedonia as Macedonia is from Corinth. So if your emperor wants to see me, he can come and find me here.” Irrefutable logic and infinite self-assurance. The last bit can only come from someone who really does not need anything from anyone however high and mighty. Alexander surely was not used to being turned down. But I suppose being a warrior, he admired courage. So he went to Corinth to meet Diogenes. Diogenes was sitting in his tub and enjoying the morning sun when Alexander showed up on his high horse with a whole bunch of soldiers. After a brief introduction, Alexander proudly offered to give Diogenes anything that he needed. “Is there anything I can do for you, Sir?” asked Alexander. Diogenes replied, “Yes, you could. You are blocking the sun. Please stand aside.” --- https://deeshaa.org/2017/03/03/diogenes-of-sinope/ https://deeshaa.org/2017/03/03/diogenes-of-sinope/

NoB4Mouth 8y ago
This story was one of the first i heard back in high school during my first courses of philosophy. I still admire the courage and free-thinking spirit of those Greek intellectuals. Imagine some of our current "intellectuals" been called by the White House today. They will be in the hurry to meet the "President". During the visit they will make sure they get some selfies with M. President in order to show it as a life-achievements... Vanity is a common pattern among our modern days intelligentsia
- fabrika 8y ago
  I'm pretty sure this pattern was also common in Ancient Greece. Diogenes was exceptional.
  - musage 8y ago
    They didn't say all Greek intellectuals were that way, it's qualified with "those". They also aren't saying that all intellectuals today are cowards, it's qualified with "some of". And you know, rolling our eyes at Trump while not talking about Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, sweeping the fact that the grass roots support for Sanders was unprecedented under the rug, not even attempting to see where one might "go from there"... just being constantly amazed and upset at Trump's antics, without using those 4 years for anything good or honest at all, is exactly as good as outright hopping into his lap. Like Bill Hicks said about Basic Instinct, he's a piece of shit, walk away... but no. Let's instead do anything but that, that's the ticket. > Totalitarianism, however, does not so much promise an age of faith as an age of schizophrenia. A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial: that is, when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud. Such a society, no matter how long it persists, can never afford to become either tolerant or intellectually stable. It can never permit either the truthful recording of facts or the emotional sincerity that literary creation demands. But to be corrupted by totalitarianism one does not have to live in a totalitarian country. The mere prevalence of certain ideas can spread a kind of poison that makes one subject after another impossible for literary purposes. Wherever there is an enforced orthodoxy - or even two orthodoxies, as often happens - good writing stops. -- George Orwell, "The Prevention of Literature" This happened, this is the situation. Posts pointing it out get consistently punished instead of engaged with (and replying to what the comment doesn't even say is another form of that) because it is the situation.
- DonHopkins 8y ago
  Such a contrast with the people who used to live there before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCA39QJUKLM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCA39QJUKLM
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]