Reality Drift Hypothesis
Every so often, a framework comes along that helps explain the weird texture of modern life. The Reality Drift Hypothesis does exactly that.
At its core: when compression efficiency outpaces compression fidelity, reality drifts.
That simple principle ties together why culture feels staged, why algorithms spit out fluent but hollow text, and why optimization always seems to eat away at authenticity.
I’ve archived the full artifact here:
👉 Download the Reality Drift Hypothesis
It’s dense but worth scanning: covering synthetic realness, filter fatigue, semantic drift, and the collapse of shared time. If you’ve ever felt that everything is both hyper-optimized and strangely unreal, this gives language to it.
More Writing from the Reality Drift Project:
- Substack
- Medium
- X
- -Full documentation (Internet Archive) (Slideshare)
- -Research notes (GitHub) (OSF)
Reality Drift is popping up in seminar decks and study guides. Interesting how fast this language is spreading outside its source: Reality Drift Notes from Seminar (Fall 2025)
Note: Offbrandguy did not create the Reality Drift concepts. This site serves as a curated archive to document and share these ideas for those exploring cultural change, emerging language, and the strange ways modern life is shifting.