@Carleas, you never asked, but I might tell you anyway, I have my own particular vision on the nature of the internet.
The internet, for me, is an ocean of stupidity and drivel where you can find, scattered here and there, islets of wisdom, islets of knowledge, which not only prevents one from feeling all of the virtualverse is a waste of time and space, but which also give some sense to this whole crazy world we see hyperbolically reflected on the internet. When one arrives at one of these islets, one realizes it was not entirely useless to throw oneself into the sea, for one intuited somehow there would have to be a small haven, a small place he could come home to.
If the internet is so full of bull, the social networks couldn’t be any exception, and worse still, they seem to be the spot where people go, mostly, to either show how shallow they are or to complain about something, whatever it may be. After a while, complaining becomes an end in itself. Hate speech, hate mongering, nostalgia of a never-existent past and conspiracy theories are the usual forms the eternal complainer finds to cope with a world which is far bigger and more complex than his mind can handle. And as such notions are very comforting and protect the subject from further or deeper inquiry into the nature of things, they are more and more intransigently defended.
The offline world, I already said before, thrives on darkness [ignorance], and the virtualverse couldn’t be any different. All the most intricate and firmly established notions about reality are denied everywhere, making one comes, all too often, to the conclusion that thinking [at all] is a futile endeavor. For instance, while many scientists have come to the conclusion that there’s no apparent [or verifiable] reason for this universe to be here, countless millions still firmly believe this universe was created with the sole intention of our being here. So the scientist [the sage] says: “Sane philosophy is to be humble regarding our place in this universe. We’re not that special.” But to this countless people respond: “Not at all. We’re the center of this universe, we’re the reason why it’s here.” And given that the sage is the exception, he “agrees to disagree” and let it be universally accepted as fact that men are much more important than they actually are.
In other words: he fights for science. But he knows this science means nothing to most.
Similarly, on the virtualverse, the scientific mind is side by side with the mystic, the lunatic, the charlatan. And he’s the absolute exception. The charlatans have most, 99% of the audience, because he thrives on what the scientist doesn’t dare to mix himself with, on the safer [and more lucrative] territory of human emotion. You simply can’t compete with the merchants of emotion, doesn’t matter how sane your philosophy is. It’s a losing game. People, most people, love to be thrilled, love to feel emotions, love to be on edge. Life gets more exciting. They, most of them, care approximately as much for reason as they care for Plato or Aristotle.
I have been everywhere on the virtualverse. Name a social network, I’ve been or am there. Instagram, MSN, X, TikTok, Facebook, Reddit, Blogger, YouTube. My conclusion about of all of them is the same: most people have absolutely nothing worthwhile to say. But even though recognizing and accepting that, I still prefer a lot of people talking whatever shit that goes through their minds than censorship. As Voltaire once said:
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
That’s what I endorse as a free-thinker.
Here in this place we see the many sides of human-kind, the stupid and the wise, the open-minded and the fundamentalist, the liberal and the conservative, and I would never say it’d be desirable if only the one side would have a voice. Not that I love stupidity. But I want it exposed. So, even the most preposition and obnoxious notions I see espoused here have a purpose. In them I recognize not only what me, the free man, has to fight against, but also the kind of thing I endorsed when I was younger and much less sure of what I am and believe that I am now. “Was I like that when I was young? Was I that immature? So I have a reason to be satisfied with what I am now.”
What really matters is that stupidity, extremism or fundamentalism doesn’t become the universal rule. What matters is that for every ten flat-earthers there be at least one man courageous and sane enough to proclaim that the earth is round and revolves around the sun.
As long as a man is not spiritually prepared to be the exception, he doesn’t know true wisdom.
So the Christian is here to show how the Christian mind works, the atheist is here to justify the reasonableness of atheism, the liberal and the conservative are here to show the limitations of political thinking, the extremist are here to show the dead-end which extremism leads to, and the open-minded is here to defend dialogue, comprehension, understanding, even at the cost of being maligned by most.
This is only possible in places like this, because in most other social networks, each one is “protected” and isolated in his own bubble, surrounded only by his coreligionists.
One speaks and all the others say “amen”. This is the death of thought.
This is a special place you have here. I’ve navigated through the ILP archive and found discussions on pretty much every conceivable topic. This is priceless, for a lot of reasons, but, especially, for bringing to light that philosophy is not restricted to dusty shelves, ill-humored and pedantic scholars or unaccessible hidden circles. Philosophy is in one way or another present in the life of every person alive. I’m not only interested on what official authorities say. I’m willing to find those unique individuals who dare to think for themselves and create their own philosophy, ie, resignify the whole philosophical edifice for themselves.
This would not be possible in most places on the internet, so this here is an exception, and I feel forced to thank you for your perseverance in keeping this place for 20+ years even when discussion boards have clearly gone out of fashion. Just don’t think your perseverance goes unnoticed and unappreciated. Everyone who is here today needs this place for something, everyone who has ever been here needed this place for something, yes man, you did something big here, something important, you can rightfully be proud of it, even when the inevitable blockhead appears only to make you doubt if it’s all worthwhile.
So, thank you, Carleas.
That you may keep this islet afloat for as long as you can.
And thanks, also, to ILP and ILP-ers.