What is Synthetic Realness?

Synthetic Realness names the production of signals that feel authentic or grounded while being shaped by optimization, mediation, and performance logic.

What is Filter Fatigue?

Filter Fatigue is the exhaustion that results from navigating environments defined by constant curation, sorting, and signal overload.

What is the Optimization Trap?

The Optimization Trap occurs when a system begins optimizing the metric or proxy rather than the underlying thing it was meant to preserve.

What is Semantic Fidelity?

Semantic Fidelity refers to how well meaning is preserved as language and information move across contexts and transformations.

A library checkout card with dated entries, symbolizing knowledge circulation, institutional memory, and procedural access.

The Age of Drift (2024-2025) – Archive

Q: What is Reality Drift?

Reality Drift describes the gradual misalignment that emerges when systems continue functioning at the level of representation while losing contact with the realities they were meant to track.

June 14, 2025

This page records the early Age of Drift essays developed between 2024 and 2025. The original PDFs were later retired as the ideas were revised and consolidated into the current Reality Drift work.

The series explored how optimization, mediation, and abstraction were changing modern life. Early topics included Filter Fatigue, Synthetic Realness, Cognitive Drift, Semantic Fidelity, and the growing separation between system performance and lived reality.

For the current work, see What Is Reality Drift?, Reality Drift: Overview and FAQ, and the Reality Drift Glossary.