Mad Realities

A reality in which things are a little more mad than usual. It may feel like you are entering an alternate universe.

Damn, I can't believe Elon Musk is buying Twitter. Mad Realities, man.

by LeannTheSexTherapist April 27, 2022

Cognitive Relativism

The view that all knowledge, concepts, and truths are constructed by the mind and are relative to the individual's or culture's perspective, framework, or conceptual scheme. There is no neutral, framework-independent way to check if our concepts "match" reality; we're always interpreting through a lens. Different frameworks create different, equally valid, cognitive realities.

Example: The concept of "justice." Cognitive relativism would argue there's no universal, mind-independent essence of justice. One culture's justice (restorative, community-based) is a fundamentally different cognitive construction than another's (retributive, individual-based). Neither is more "real"; they are products of different historical and social frameworks. Two people witnessing the same event (e.g., a political protest) will cognitively construct different events based on their pre-existing schemas.

by Abzugal January 24, 2026

Cognitive Relativism

The weak version of Cognitive Realism. It proposes that our cognitive apparatus (senses, memory, language) doesn't lock us into one reality, but makes us relatively biased toward certain perceptions and interpretations. While our biology shapes and skews our view, there's still room for learning, different perspectives, and updating our mental models. It's the idea that we're wearing prescription lenses that distort, not blackout curtains that completely obscure.

Example: "Arguing about politics with my family showed Cognitive Relativism. We all watched the same debate, but our cognitive filters—shaped by different news sources, life experiences, and emotional triggers—highlighted different moments as 'key.' My reality of the event was relative to my cognitive setup, but by comparing notes, I could vaguely approximate what the 'neutral' feed might have been."

by Abzunammu February 2, 2026

Spacetime Relativity

Einstein's revolutionary theory that space and time are not absolute but relative to the observer's motion and gravitational field. In spacetime relativity, there is no universal "now"; simultaneity is relative, time dilates with speed, and space contracts with motion. The theory reveals that we don't live in a fixed background of space with time flowing uniformly; we live in a four-dimensional fabric where space and time are woven together, and different observers can legitimately disagree about whether events happen at the same time or how long things take. Spacetime relativity explains why GPS satellites must adjust for relativistic effects or you'd end up in the next county, why astronauts age slightly slower than earthbound twins, and why the universe is stranger than common sense imagines. It's the physics of "it depends on how fast you're moving."

Example: "He tried to explain spacetime relativity to his boss after being late: 'Time is relative. For you, waiting in the office, time moved slowly. For me, running here, time moved fast. We experienced different durations.' His boss said the clock on the wall disagreed. He said the clock was stationary; he'd been moving. His boss said to move faster next time."

by Dumu The Void February 17, 2026

Multiverse Relativity

The extension of relativity to the multiverse, where not just space, time, probability, and initial conditions are relative to the observer, but the entire universe—or multiverse—is relative to the observer's position in the cosmic landscape. In multiverse relativity, different observers in different universes experience different physical laws, different constants, different realities entirely, and all are equally valid from their frames. This theory explains why our universe seems fine-tuned for life: we're in a universe where life is possible because we couldn't exist in the others. It's not that the universe was designed for us; it's that we're in the universe that fits us. Multiverse relativity is the physics of cosmic perspective: our universe is one among infinite, special only to us.

Example: "She contemplated multiverse relativity while stargazing: somewhere, in another universe, the stars were different colors, physics was different, life was different. Her universe, with its particular laws and constants, was just one slice of an infinite multiversal cake. She felt simultaneously insignificant (one universe among infinite) and precious (the only one she'd ever inhabit). The feeling was familiar: it was called being alive."

by Dumu The Void February 17, 2026

Valid Relativism

A nuanced form of relativism that acknowledges the context-dependence of truth, knowledge, and values without collapsing into the nihilistic "anything goes" position often associated with relativism. Valid Relativism argues that different perspectives, cultures, and contexts produce different truths—but that these truths can still be evaluated, compared, and judged. Some perspectives are more adequate, more comprehensive, more useful than others; not all truths are equal. Valid Relativism is the middle path between absolutism (one truth for everyone) and nihilism (no truth at all). It's the recognition that truth is plural without being arbitrary, contextual without being meaningless.

Example: "He used to think that if truth wasn't absolute, it must be arbitrary. Valid Relativism showed him otherwise: different cultures had different truths, but those truths could be compared, evaluated, learned from. The fact that truth was contextual didn't mean anything went; it meant context mattered. He stopped defending absolutes and started paying attention to where he was standing."

by Abzugal February 21, 2026

Scientific Relativism

The view that scientific truth is relative to a conceptual framework, paradigm, or cultural context—what's true in one framework may not be true in another. This is often misunderstood as "everything is equally true," which is not the claim. The claim is that truth-claims are evaluated within frameworks, and frameworks themselves are not neutrally comparable. Newtonian physics is true within its domain of medium-sized objects moving at medium speeds; relativistic physics is true in a broader domain. They're not both true in the same way—they're true relative to their conditions of application. The relativism is about frameworks, not facts.

"Is mental illness a brain disorder or spiritual crisis? Scientific Relativism says: it depends on your framework. Both are real ways of understanding; neither is the final truth. The trick is knowing which framework fits which situation, not fighting about which is universally right."

by Abzugal February 23, 2026