Debate of the Century!

  Hello everyone! This is my first Action Project for this term. During this term, we’ve gone over Socrates and who he was. He was a man living in Athens, one of the biggest Greek cities we know of. He was a philosopher, asking about the nature of people’s beliefs and why they believed them. He tried to get people to really dig at their beliefs and examine them. He never tried to change anyone’s mind, just get them to think about why they believed the things they did. We then read about his trial, which led to his death. We read the manuscript of it and saw the Socratic Method in action. Socractes debated one of his rivals about why he was a bad influence on the people of Athens, and showed how flawed his argument was.

We were then tasked to have a Socratic dialogue like the whole Socrates had in his trial. We were to choose a topic and then have a back and forth, one person trying to dig deeper at the other person’s beliefs. The other person didn’t have to entirely change by the end, but see a new perspective.

The Socratic method can be dangerous, especially around the wrong people. But it also can be a great tool to help people see things they may not have thought of before. Hopefully you enjoy my project!

R: You look tired.

A: Yeah I am. I was up on my phone all night.

R: Ah, yeah, I get that. It can keep you up without even realizing it’s that late.

A: Mhm. Apparently, according to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, teens spend up to 9 hours a day on their screens a day. 

R: Actually, I’ve been thinking about this. Do you think computers have improved the world?

A: Yeah of course. They’ve become vital to how we live as people and how we go about our lives. Without them, we wouldn’t be at the point we are at now.

R: Do you think it's a good thing to become reliant on something you didn't need before? Is it ok that we’re basing our lives around this new technology?

A: It’s made things easier for people all around the world and has made it less of a pain to do all sorts of things. I think it’s good.

R: In which ways?

A: Well, things like shopping and talking with people can now be done virtually. We also have a lot of entertainment to keep us busy if we get bored. Work can be handed in online, people can have jobs that are basically virtual. It’s made life easier and more accessible to many people.

R: If this system were to shut down even for a matter of days, would you still have people you know you can socialize with? Would people still be able to do work, go about their day to day lives?

A: I think so, yes. I have friends I can talk with in real life, and many jobs are still available in person. It’s not like online jobs have simply replaced real life ones.

R: But they haven’t interacted with people in their area as much. Do you still think that they can socialize with others in real life?

A: Yes, because it’s not like their social skills decrease because they’re not online. They can still talk with others and do jobs, they just need to find the right ones to talk with or to do. 

R: When you talk online you don't really look people in the eyes or have to pay attention to body language. Are these not social skills that are important?

A: They are, yes. But people can still pick up social cues from those online. It’s just a matter of learning them.

R: Not physical cues. Your ability to detect emotion through things besides through voice decreases. Also when you interact online you become accustomed to the mannerisms and culture of the people on the online space. If you exclusively talk with people online is it possible that talking to people in person could feel like talking with people from a different country?

A: It could, but at the same time, it’s not as though people completely forget how to interact with people in real life. You just get accustomed to certain ways of speaking, and you just have to get used to another way of talking again.

R: My point is that we are still reliant on the internet. Would you say having to relearn something as basic as interacting with real people means you are reliant on computers? 

A: I guess it is an issue that we have become reliant but I believe that the upsides of computers are worth being reliant on computers, just like we are reliant on trains and modern medicine.