Reality Drift Glossary

A short PDF that names some of the stranger patterns of modern life.

I usually write about money and simple living. Over time, I kept running into the same underlying problem. Things feel optimized, coherent, and functional, but less real. This glossary attempts to name that gap. The terms collected here were developed between 2023 and 2026.

It collects a small set of coined terms that describe how modern systems distort perception, attention, and meaning. Not as theory. More as pattern recognition.

Examples include:

• Filter Fatigue — why everything feels tiring even when nothing is happening
• Synthetic Realness — when polished signals feel more authentic than lived experience
• Optimization Trap — when improvement turns into compression

If any of that resonates, these PDFs are worth a skim.

Framework Definition:

• Canonical Definition

Glossary PDFs:

• Reality Drift Glossary

Concept Framework PDFs:

• Reality Drift Concept Framework
• Filter Fatigue Concept Framework
• Optimization Trap Concept Framework
• Synthetic Realness Concept Framework

Visual Framework PDFs:

• Reality Drift Visual Glossary
• Reality Drift Visual Frameworks

Writing Elsewhere:

• Substack
• Medium
• Github Repo

Extended Material:

• Visual Reference Collection
• Working Paper Collection
• Book Length Reader Edition

Note: This site exists as a lightweight archive and reference point. It is not the primary home of the Reality Drift project.