Cognitive Drift

Cognitive Drift describes how human cognition continues to function, interpret, and respond while gradually losing alignment with reality. It emerges when thought becomes increasingly shaped by compressed representations, mediated inputs, and recursive internal models rather than direct contact with the world.

Cognition does not fail in the obvious sense. It remains active, coherent, and adaptive, but begins drifting from what it is meant to track.

Download PDF: Cognitive Drift Canonical Definition (PDF)

---

[Reddit]

---

Explore The Reality Drift Framework

Related Concepts:

• Reality Drift
• Optimization Trap
• Synthetic Realness
• Filter Fatigue
• The Age of Drift
• Recursive Compression
• Constraint Collapse
• The Drifted Self
• Co-Cognition

Explore:

• What Is Reality Drift
• Reality Drift Canonical Overview

---

Note: This archive collects definitions, glossaries, framework papers, and reference materials related to cognition, AI-mediated reasoning, Co-Cognition, and Cognitive Drift.

Substack • GitHub • DOI