When I was still in elementary school, philosophy crossed my path in the form of a history of philosophy book and a copy of Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes. Five decades later, that calling still calls me each day to find my best ideas in the minds and books of great thinkers, whether famous or not.
In that context, one of the philosophers who has always inspired me (and many others) is Heraclitus, who was born, lived, and died in Ephesus—modern-day Turkey—about 2,500 years ago. Known as “the Obscure,” Heraclitus has exerted such influence on our thinking that major scientists like Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, and Niels Bohr quote him in their work.
Heraclitus wrote a book of which, unfortunately, only about 129 fragments remain, the first being the longest and most complete. The most well-known is Fragment 12, on the impossibility of stepping into the same river twice. My favorite fragments are 50 (listening to the logos rather than to people) and 119 (what it means to be truly human).
For that reason, when I recently came across a piece in the Spanish publication Semana whose title began with “Heraclitus, philosopher,” I decided to read it immediately. After all, one encounters Heraclitus every day while browsing the Internet. But the anticipation quickly turned into deep disappointment.
The explanation is simple: the article centers on a quote that, although presented as belonging to Heraclitus, he never actually said. I will not repeat the quote. It is enough to note that the influential Greek philosopher we are dealing with here is closer to quantum physics than to motivational self-help—and he never spoke about “envy” or “uncomfortable emotions.”
A simple and quick online search (probably two clicks) would have revealed that the quote in question was not from Heraclitus, but rather invented and published by a website devoted to attributing quotes to famous figures without ever providing the exact source.
When I used to teach philosophy at the university level, I would always tell my students: “As President Abraham Lincoln famously said, do not believe everything you read on the Internet.” (At times, I replaced Lincoln with other nineteenth-century figures.) It took the students a moment to process that “warning,” and then most of them would smile.
Now, a decade after those classes, it is clear that the digital ecosystem moves at such speed that we are compelled to prioritize shaping our perception of “reality” over verifying truth—thus accelerating the spread of false information and misleading narratives.
From digital clones to synthetic influencers, everything points toward blurring the boundaries of what was once considered “real” or “authentic,” eroding trust in others and undermining communication altogether.
Heraclitus affirmed (Fragment 1) that human beings do not know what they are doing because they live asleep. How right he was.
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