The whole collection · No. 4 of 36

Plato’s cave

For checking what’s casting the shadows.

c.375 BC · The Republic, Book VII

Where it comes from

Plato imagined prisoners chained in a cave, facing a wall. Behind them, people carry objects past a fire, and the prisoners see only the shadows. Having never seen anything else, they take the shadows for the world.

How to play it

Move the fire. Then turn around.

Pick it up

What it teaches (try it first)

A dashboard is a wall of shadows. It’s useful, but something is casting those shadows, and it’s usually messier than the chart.

Ask yourself. What’s casting the shadows on your dashboard?

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