The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
If someone grew up in a cubicle as Plato once suggested
They would only know the cubicle and not the world outside it
And they wouldn't view the cubicle as something geometric
We only know it's a cubicle because we live outside it
Now the one inside the cubicle can't comprehend his measurements
'Cause measurements are models made up for and by observers
Relative to their position on the outside of the cubicle
They understand objectively so they can study further
If I grew up in a cubicle the walls are limit my universe
I have no knowledge of the entirety like the outsiders do
If you follow what I say and can swallow the powerdered water
Close your eyes and open your minds, this one's for you
And the brain equals a cubicle we'll never think outside it
Now inside wanna try to tie a diagram to modify them
I'm a man as a hybrid of a body of a pirate
Of a soul that can fly without control
Realizing the brain takes in six billion signals per second
And most which of hidden and not given to the senses
Whether to do a few futile primitive tools to perception
livin in a universal pool of first hand deception
The mind's job is to recieve the signals
And block the ones out that don't coincide with imprinted symbols
That way the information you obtained is recognized
Reality is thinkable and comparable to space and time
It makes a map of the territory that gives us the gives us
The topic of the Copenhagen interpretation of modern quantum
Physics which states we dont know the meal
We only know the menu that our brains tell us is real
We dont know the rules of our heads
From inside these cubicles we cant see the truth
No one really knows exactly what happens when we think
Therefore we can never really ever know anything
This is the consciousness revolution
You got the right to think
Don't think about it just do it
(repeats stanza til fade out)
They would only know the cubicle and not the world outside it
And they wouldn't view the cubicle as something geometric
We only know it's a cubicle because we live outside it
Now the one inside the cubicle can't comprehend his measurements
'Cause measurements are models made up for and by observers
Relative to their position on the outside of the cubicle
They understand objectively so they can study further
If I grew up in a cubicle the walls are limit my universe
I have no knowledge of the entirety like the outsiders do
If you follow what I say and can swallow the powerdered water
Close your eyes and open your minds, this one's for you
And the brain equals a cubicle we'll never think outside it
Now inside wanna try to tie a diagram to modify them
I'm a man as a hybrid of a body of a pirate
Of a soul that can fly without control
Realizing the brain takes in six billion signals per second
And most which of hidden and not given to the senses
Whether to do a few futile primitive tools to perception
livin in a universal pool of first hand deception
The mind's job is to recieve the signals
And block the ones out that don't coincide with imprinted symbols
That way the information you obtained is recognized
Reality is thinkable and comparable to space and time
It makes a map of the territory that gives us the gives us
The topic of the Copenhagen interpretation of modern quantum
Physics which states we dont know the meal
We only know the menu that our brains tell us is real
We dont know the rules of our heads
From inside these cubicles we cant see the truth
No one really knows exactly what happens when we think
Therefore we can never really ever know anything
This is the consciousness revolution
You got the right to think
Don't think about it just do it
(repeats stanza til fade out)
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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This song is amazing and quite the head trip. I think it means that we cannot perceive things for how they really are because of how we take in the information, the senses and our brains. If we could somehow take in the world without using the senses we could get an accurate representation of it. We can't comprehend how our brains work objectively and so we don't know exactly how it works or if we can even rely on it to give us the true picture because we don't see it in it's entirety.
amazing song. when he says "From inside these cubicles we can't se the truth" he says "heads" over "cubicles" which is so genius
I love this song! It makes you realise that you perceive the world based on the environment you're in. You can never understand the way anyone else thinks because you can never live in their environment/existence/"cubicle" hence the reason you like some people, and you don't like others. You tend to like the people whose existence is made up of a environment that is similar to yours, because you will perceive the world in a relatively similar way.
Well that's what I get from this song, deep shit.
Also, to build on this, you can never see the world in an objective way because it's the way your brain is made, you don't even realise that everything you do is sub-consciously predetermined because, you can't control your thought processes, or the way your brain transmits signals through your brain, it's just how it is and how it always will be. <br /> <br /> "Also we don't know the meal, we only know the menu that our brain tells us is real"<br /> You know only what your brain transmits to you. You don't really know what causes you to like for instance -e.g: a song; you like the lyrics, the instruments, you the melody, they rhythm it sounds great to you, however, to someone else it sounds garbage, because they don't like the that they all sound together. You yourself know that it sounds great to you, but WHY your brain interprets it as being pleasant is unknown, you can't control it, it just... does.<br /> <br /> I need to stop thinking
*an enviornment
Plato's Allegory of the Cave.
I love that he turned the analogy to a cubicle. How many of us can relate in this day and age? I can.