Consensus Reality: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 09:22, 13 October 2024

Figure 1. Consensus Reality would be the common agreed upon reality where subjective perceptions overlap.

"There is one world in common for those who are awake, but when men are asleep each turns away into a world of his own."

– Heraclitus, 2500 years ago

Consensus reality refers to the shared understanding of facts among the general population, shaping a collective perspective on reality. The concept suggests that by surveying people on specific topics, we can identify common agreements (see Figure 1). These shared agreements form a "consensus reality," acting as a common reference point for society.

Figure 2. Traditional centralised TV viewership has greatly declined vs more algorithmically personalised internet sources.

In the pre-internet era, when information sources were more centralized, larger consensus realities prevailed. However, with the rise of the internet, information dissemination has become increasingly decentralized (see figure 2). This decentralization has led to the emergence of personalized information delivered through algorithms prone to to exhibiting confirmation bias. Consequently, the notion of a singular consensus reality that binds society in a unified perception is gradually breaking down into smaller and more diverse subsets called reality tunnels.

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+[[File:Consensus Reality.png|alt=Consensus Reality|thumb|'''Figure 1'''. Consensus Reality would be the common agreed upon reality where subjective perceptions overlap.]]
 ''"There is one world in common for those who are awake, but when men are asleep each turns away into a world of his own."''
 – '''Heraclitus, 2500 years ago'''
-The idea of ''consensus reality'' is that amongst the general populace there is a shared sense of facts. Theoretically, to prove its existence, one could survey a populace on specific topics and see where people agree. These agreements, amalgamated, would make the consensus reality which would serve as a unifying point of reference for society. Pre-internet, the main sources of information were sparse, which led to a larger amalagmation of consensus reality. However, as the ubiquity of the internet evolve and news sources became more individualised though algorithmic serving of bespoke information, consensus reality has been slowly shattered into smaller and smaller subsets.
+Consensus reality refers to the shared understanding of facts among the general population, shaping a collective perspective on reality. The concept suggests that by surveying people on specific topics, we can identify common agreements (see Figure 1). These shared agreements form a "consensus reality," acting as a common reference point for society.
+[[File:Tv.png|alt=Tv|thumb|'''Figure 2.''' Traditional centralised TV viewership has greatly declined vs more algorithmically personalised internet sources.  ]]
+In the pre-internet era, when information sources were more centralized, larger consensus realities prevailed. However, with the rise of the internet, information dissemination has become increasingly decentralized (see '''figure 2'''). This decentralization has led to the emergence of personalized information delivered through algorithms prone to to exhibiting [[Confirmation Bias|confirmation bias]]. Consequently, the notion of a singular consensus reality that binds society in a unified perception is gradually breaking down into smaller and more diverse subsets called [[Reality Tunnel|reality tunnels]].

Latest revision as of 09:22, 13 October 2024

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