Consensus Reality

"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."

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

– 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.