Work Classification Layer
Compare Works
Pick two or more works to set their attribute fingerprints, dimension-by-dimension passages, and shared school embodiments side by side. Especially useful for author-stage comparisons (Wittgenstein early vs late) and for setting a single tradition's foundational texts against each other.
Reality+
Virtual reality is genuine reality — the systematic philosophical defense of virtual realism
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Reality+ (Late (Chalmers's major popular-and-technical synthesis on virtual reality and the simulation hypothesis)) |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Infinite |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | Flat |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | Local |
| Matter · Extent | Infinite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Multiple |
| Observer · Space Instance | Multiple |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Mediated |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Partial |
| Observer · Physicality | Both |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | None |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Reason |
| Observer · Theological Method | N/A |
| Energy · Extent | Infinite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Irreversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | Non-conserved |
| Information · Granularity | Discrete |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Reality+
Standard physical time; virtual environments may have their own simulation-clock time.
Space
Reality+
Substantival physical space; virtual environments instantiate structured spatial properties in a computational substrate.
Matter
Reality+
Substantival matter at the substrate level; structured-patterns at the virtual level are equally real.
Observer
Reality+
Plural embodied observers; multi-instance through VR; mediated knowledge through immersion.
Energy
Reality+
Standard physics at the substrate; computational energy in virtual environments.
Information
Reality+
Discrete digital information as the substrate of virtual reality.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Virtual-realism's claim that simulated experiences are "real" is contested from both common-sense and traditional-philosophical sides. Critics argue that the reality of the substrate is one thing and the reality of the simulated content another. Chalmers's response — that what matters is structural-functional realization, not substrate provenance — is a non-trivial philosophical commitment that the book defends across hundreds of pages but doesn't close the debate.