Reality Drift: Framework Overview and FAQ

This document provides an overview of the Reality Drift Framework and answers common questions about its scope, mechanisms, and use.Reality Drift describes the condition in which a system remains operational and internally coherent while the representations guiding it progressively lose corrective contact with the reality they are meant to track, describe, or govern. The framework examines how filtering, compression, proxy optimization, recursive reuse, and weakened constraints allow misalignment to accumulate without causing immediate system failure.The overview explains the Representation Stack, Drift Principle, Semantic Fidelity, Recursive Compression, Optimization Trap, Constraint Collapse, Synthetic Realness, Cognitive Drift, and related concepts. It also distinguishes Reality Drift from ordinary error, bias, Goodhart’s law, hyperreality, and technological failure.The document includes a practical diagnostic for evaluating whether the representations guiding a system remain answerable to real-world conditions.