I found it interesting that the original meaning of the word Symposium and that which we use today are two entirely different things. In Plato's day, a symposium was a drinking party. People just sat around consuming more and more alcohol until they probably couldn't hold it any longer.
I thought this was extremely funny considering the fact that we now use the word symposium much as Plato depicts the one in his story. Simply put, we expect to learn in a rather casual environment from multiple speakers, often on a broad subject that can have many interpretations.
Imagine how startled many of todays "symposium goers" would be if they went to one only to find all the other people drunk. Imagine also how startled Plato and Socrates would be going to a symposium to find that there was no intention of drinking there.
Both parties might even be outraged, and it might even be the stuff of comic legend.
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