Plato on an iPhone

he other day, I heard someone voice an opinion I’ve seen expressed many times in recent years: Why do we need to learn things like history, philosophy, or math when the iPhone already has a calculator and access to Wikipedia?

This opinion was framed around the relevance of these subjects. However, it also raised the idea that we should focus more on emotional education rather than giving so much weight to them.

Before addressing the first idea, I’d like to explore the second: emotions versus reasoning.

Emotions vs. Reasoning

We live in a society that is overmarketed. There’s advertising and content—whether audio, video, or written—everywhere. The internet boom has led humans to consume more content than ever before in history.

Content and advertising are drenched in emotions to make them appealing, eye-catching, and engaging for consumers. From fear to disgust, drama, and more—everything is saturated with emotions.

Think about the shows you watch, TV programs, news, books, or articles. Everything is designed to stir our emotions or make us click. It’s the oldest trick in an advertiser’s book.

This emotional overload has two adverse effects.

1. Desensitization: Being constantly bombarded with emotions dulls our ability to perceive subtle differences. It’s like eating too much sugar—you need more to taste the sweetness. Similarly, when we’re emotionally overstimulated all day, we require increasingly intense emotional input to feel the same effect.
   Additionally, with the sheer volume of content, what was a tragedy a week ago is now ancient history. Think back: just seven days ago, everyone was talking about the brutal beating of a young man in Galicia, and now it’s all about Sánchez’s government reshuffle. It’s no less tragic, but tragedies are increasingly short-lived.
2. Emotions as Decision-Making Tools: People use emotions to think. Since we’re constantly receiving impulses to react—not decide—we’re educating society to rely on emotions for decision-making.

While it’s true that emotions have their purpose, place, and utility, the same applies to reasoning, pragmatism, and knowledge. Emotions aren’t the solution to everything. You should love with your heart and think with your head. Doing otherwise makes no sense.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Today’s World

It was in this context that I saw the intro to an episode of Legion (HBO), which contextualized Plato’s Allegory of the Cave in today’s world.

In the allegory, Plato imagines people trapped in a cave, unaware of the outside world. They see shadows of real-world events projected onto the cave wall, and because they don’t know better, they believe shadows are reality. If they left the cave, they wouldn’t understand the world because all they’ve known are those images.

To some extent, the cave wall distorts reality. People confuse shadows with what's happening.

Similarly, an iPhone is a prism through which more and more people view the world. They don’t see the world as it is but as it’s projected through that prism.

With heavy doses of emotion and entertainment, the prism prevents people from seeing others when exchanging offensive tweets or sending hateful DMs. They see users. And users aren’t people—not entirely. They’re something else. If those two people met on the street, they probably wouldn’t speak to each other that way.

The Importance of Learning Philosophy, History, and Math

The importance of learning philosophy, history, or math—alongside managing our emotions—lies in how these subjects help us decipher the most critical challenges we face as humans: life… and our relationships with others.

Knowledge is always a key, never a cage.

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