Neural Reality

NEURAL REALITY
n.

1. Brain generated consciousness construct subjectively perceived as a genuine state of actual being or existence that reflects, in part, the autonomous processing of exogenus neural stimuli through preexisting biogenetic/biochemical neurocognitive pathways.

2. Psychological and physiological perception of reality resulting from a direct neural connection between the brain and an artificial neural device.

3. Machine generated neural stimuli capable of inducing mental and physical perception of reality that is indistinguishable from genuine life experience.

While Virtual Reality closely simulates a real world environment by actively engaging one or more of the five senses, Neural Reality is that perception of the real world pieced together by the brain and incorporated into the conscious mind as a state of actual being or existence. The artificial nature, inherent in the former, makes Virtual Reality clearly distinguishable from what is perceived as the "real world." The same cannot be said for the latter - even if induced by artificial means.

by Sonoma County Dave July 7, 2008

Neutral Reality Bias

A cognitive and meta-bias where an individual believes that the reality they inhabit—their society, online spaces, social media platforms, communities, or sources of information—is neutral, objective, and free from bias, when in fact it is shaped by specific interests, power structures, and cultural assumptions. Neutral Reality Bias is the illusion that your environment is simply "the way things are," not a constructed space with its own rules, biases, and agendas. On social media, it's believing your feed shows you "what's happening" rather than what algorithms choose to show you. In science communication, it's trusting that popular sources are simply reporting "the facts" rather than selecting and framing information. In society, it's assuming that dominant cultural norms are just "common sense" rather than particular ways of organizing life. Neutral Reality Bias makes the constructed appear natural, the biased appear neutral, the partial appear complete. It's the bias that protects other biases from examination—if your reality is neutral, you never have to question it.

Example: "He thought his Twitter feed was just 'what was happening'—neutral, objective, real. Neutral Reality Bias blinded him to the algorithm's role: selecting for outrage, amplifying conflict, shaping his perception. When she pointed out that his 'reality' was constructed, he dismissed her as biased. His reality was neutral; hers was political. The bias was invisible to him, which is how it worked."

by Dumu The Void March 8, 2026