Edwards Snowden's The Allegory Of The Cave

Edwards Snowden, former employee of the U.S. Government who leaked classified information from the National Security Agency back in 2013, once said in an interview, "I don't want to live in a world where there's no privacy and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and creativity"(Snowden 2013). Snowden asserts that creativity lies in the mind, and to be creative is to have unprecedented ideas and subjects that are completely unanticipated. But how can we be creative if our every move is anticipated by the government? What if we want to intellectually create something different, but it's seen as a threat by the government? Alarmingly, modern culture heavily depends on technology to exist, survive, and learn.Yet, we are happily willing
The quote from the excerpt, "[Best minds] must continue to ascend until they arrive at the good, but when they have ascended and seen enough...they must be able to descend again...,"(Plato 5) symbolizes that it is the responsibility of those with great minds who make sense of the knowledge around them, to inform others who are stuck in the cave. Plato emphasizes that withholding this kind of information is denying each person human dignity, and disrespecting others their right to live as they
From the excerpt, "Vashti was seized with the terrors of direct experience. She shrank back into the room, and the wall closed up again," (Forster 5) symbolizes that the author does not want humanity to be intimidated by exploration, complexity, and ambiguity. Instead of conforming to a rigid principle, Forster wants humanity to take a risk and explore on their own. But how can a person do this if they are brainwashed and bombarded by the negativity technology feeds them? It's like an artist describing the scenery of a sunrise, but if you've never witnessed the mix of magenta, or seen the sunlight peek through grey clouds, or feel the cool wind lightly brush every fiber of your hair: are you even living? Life is complex, yet simple. As rational beings, mankind should be able to express those pleasures with compassion and dignity, in order to the maximize their individual meaning of human