If a tree falls in the woods and a car full of people are around to hear it, but those people are riding in a 2021 Toyota Avalon which utilizes Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) technology to eliminate the sound of the tree along with ambient road noise ensuring a quiet ride, did the falling tree really make a sound?
A trolley is headed down a set of tracks toward four people. Unfortunately, the trolley is not equipped with a first-in-class anti-lock braking system, nor does it have the pre-collision brake intervention system that comes standard on all new Toyota Camrys. As a result, the trolley will be unable to stop and will kill all four people unless you pull a lever which would divert the trolley, saving the lives of the four, but killing a lone person on another set of tracks. Would you throw the lever? Would you answer change if you found out that one of the four lives you would save was that of Don Brakeman, owner of Don Brakeman Toyota and, in return for saving his life, you would be given 0% APR financing for life on all Toyotas (you would get top dollar for your trade-in whether or not you threw the lever).
Hereclitus’ principle of unity in opposites can best be illustrated by the Toyota Sienna. If the Sienna was the only family minivan on the market, there would be no “good vans” or “bad vans;” there would simply be the sport Sienna with its four-zone climate control and front/rear assist parking. In order to understand the concept of a “good minivan” you need the Dodge Grand Caravan, with its lower crash-test rating and smallest in-class usable cargo space. A bad minivan must exist for the mind to understand the concept of a good minivan.
Theseus trades his car into his local Toyota dealership. As part of the 81-point safety inspection, the mechanic replaces the spark plugs. The mechanic then replaces the air filter and the transmission. Before long, the mechanic has replaced every part of the car. If every part has been replaced, is this still the same car that Theseus traded in, or is it a brand new car? Would you believe that a car like this would be available at used car pricing from Don Brakeman Toyota?
Socrates asks Glaucon to imagine there are prisoners who have, for the entire lives, had their heads affixed so that they can only see a cave wall (Toyota does not condone this behavior for the record). The wall is illuminated by the adaptive front lighting headlights on a Toyota Camry. Occasionally, Hot Wheels versions of the Rav4 and the Toyota Supra are passed in front of the headlights casting the iconic silhouettes of both cars on the wall in front of the prisoners.
Socrates then asks Glaucon to imagine one of the prisoners was freed. When the prisoner turned and looked behind him the direct light would temporarily blind him, even though the vehicle employs automatic high beam technology which dims the lights when it senses oncoming traffic. Socrates then describes the freed prisoner being taken up the steep, rugged terrain of the cave with absolute ease in a versatile Toyota Land Cruiser.
Once out of the cave, the prisoner would again be blinded by the sun on his cave-accustomed eyes. Eventually though, his vision would return and he would see the familiar shadow of a Rav4 he once saw in the cave. But now, he would be able to turn and see the actual Rav4 and understand the benefits of the multi-terrain selection capability.
Now that the freed prisoner had become enlightened and witnessed the truth, he would of course want to return to the cave and tell the others about what he’d seen, ideally before the Toyotathon Sales Event ended. But, when he returned to the cave, his eyes, which had adjusted to the daylight, would be briefly blinded. Seeing this, the other prisoners would assume that the trip outside had crippled him and they would refuse to take a similar journey. Socrates suggests that the other prisoners would likely then spend the rest of their life in darkness, ignorant of the true world that exists around them, and would likely purchase a Ford.