Most pointless reference to ancient philosophy of the day award...

... goes to Jacques Peretti's article in today's Grauniad guide (yes, I did buy the paper again, but I promise it was only for the mini tv listings thing that fits nicely in the spot next to our telly). He writes, on the question whether video games are any good or not:

I kicked off with a philosopher called Ren Reynolds, who says that the attitude of the gaming technophobe/snob (that's me) versus the gaming world and its believers (that's you) really has its roots in a fundamental disagreement between Plato and Aristotle. Plato believed games were frivolous and merely shadows on the cave wall: they were a distraction from reality. Aristotle, on the other hand, believed games were deadly serious, and their playing taught us important lessons about real life. Ren said that if Plato was around today, he'd be railing against the internet, while Aristotle would have his own Facebook page.

Thanks for that. Spot the daft reference to the cave simile in Republic VII combined with something from the Woefully short introduction to some stuff about Plato and that mixed in with something about that painting, you know, where one bloke points up and the other points down so they, like, disagree about the real world and stuff. Good grief. (Actually, Aristotle does have a facebook page. But so does Plato. To be honest, I don't think it's really them.)

For what it's worth. Just imagine how much fun Socrates would have had with Chatroulette. Almost as much fun as these people.