“Like Knows Like” Meaning?
One might also apply the phrase in ethics without referring to other minds (divine or otherwise), to mean “being good enables or helps one to know the good”. The idea that virtue somehow illuminates moral truth suggests that more virtuous people have a greater ability to know moral truth.
As proven above by this quote from Wiki Answers, Like Knows Like is very interestingly named. The project, created by Amsterdam-based Marije Kulper (documentary photographer) and Bas Berkhout (documentarian), is a new series of short docu-style vignettes of artists they’ve followed and admired on social media sites that they are currently shooting and editing as they travel around meeting/interviewing these artists in person in the United States. As proclaimed on their site: “We love Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Vimeo, Flickr, WordPress and a lot more! Through these social apps and websites, we have become acquainted with unique and admirable artists, photographers, filmmakers, painters, printmakers, architects, musicians and bloggers all over the world. We’re surrounded with so many talented people and we ask ourselves all the time: ‘How does this person create such good work, what inspires and drives him, what is it that she sees, what is he like in real life?’”
While it might be scary for anyone with a large number of followers to be tracked down in person just so your followers all know what you act like “in real life”, this project was planned out with the artists ahead of time, captured by like-minded artists, and does offer short yet interesting glimpses into how different people create, act, share and live. I was just introduced to Like Knows Like because they attended our New Years party at The Forge, and the first few of their videos features some friends of ours: Ryan Schude in one, and Matt & Katie Denis in another (both below), as well as a video of Bas and Marije’s arrival in LA and attending the New Years party, all of which we thought were very well done and merited sharing on our end, no matter how cleverly named.
To suggest that by being virtuous you have more ability to know moral truth does not sound absurd, nor does the definition of Like Knows Like that by knowing one another we know ourselves better. Since early societies we have found it that art and storytelling are but ways to connect with each other; tales have drifted through the ages under the power only of spoken word, but in the online world of uploading, liking and sharing, there are few suggestions concerning how to be a “virtuous” person online, or what makes something online likeable or shareable (in terms of using online technology in a virtuous manner). Indeed, as Plato would suggest that the same principles and elements that make up a soul are the same elements and principles that make up the Universe, we should realize that projects like this truly embody what should be the ultimate purpose of the online experience.
To some, staying offline sounds like the most virtuous path one could ever take (most people call the Internet a “disembodiment” of sorts, pointing to the trolling, bullying and hacking which does exist), but if we are willing — there are potentialities such as Like Knows Like that might make us seem more human to each other in certain ways. By learning more about ourselves and knowing one another more genuinely, we have perhaps more awareness of what is good, likeable, or virtuous in the “cloud” and we can use this knowledge to help create our own likeable or shareable works. On their site, they say “The project is called ‘Like Knows Like’, cause we think it’s a great opportunity to showcase both the artist and our own talent.” This is well put, as it does in fact take one to know one. Check out the below videos, and be a better person.
Ryan Schude – Like Knows Like from Like Knows Like on Vimeo.
Driftwood Visual – Like Knows Like from Like Knows Like on Vimeo.