The history of how humans engage with reality is often described as a sequence of technologies, media, or interfaces. But a more precise perspective emerges if we focus not on carriers of information, but on mechanisms of ontological synchronisation — that is, the ways in which different subjects come to share an understanding of what counts as real, existent, and actionable.
From this angle, media cease to be mere channels of transmission. They become mechanisms for coordinating reality itself.
- The Icon as a Point of Shared Attention
The primary level of synchronisation is associated with iconic forms — images that preserve a resemblance to what they denote. Their function is not explanatory but referential: they fix a point of shared attention.
An icon does not require a shared language or a shared theory of the world. It creates a minimal common ground: the ability to point to “this” as a shared focus.
However, this does not produce coinciding ontologies. Each participant retains their own interpretation. What is shared is the act of reference, not the meaning.
- The Interface as Operational Synchronisation
With the development of digital environments, iconic forms cease to be rare objects and become a universal interface layer. They no longer merely indicate; they organise action.
At this point, a shift occurs from synchronisation of perception to synchronisation of operations. People begin to share not only what they see, but what they can do.
Reality in an interface environment becomes operational: it is defined not by what “is”, but by what can be interacted with.
- Video as Synchronisation of Time
Video introduces a fundamentally new layer — temporal continuity. If the icon fixes an object, video fixes change.
This radically intensifies the effect of reality, because it creates the illusion of a world that exists continuously over time. Yet this continuity is not a property of the world itself, but a property of the medium.
Synchronisation here occurs not through objects and not through actions, but through the shared experience of a flow of events. People begin to share not only “what is”, but “how it unfolds”.
- The Mirror and the Splitting of the Shared Object
A classical mirror introduces a fundamental rupture: the same object produces different images depending on the observer’s position.
This creates the first stable form of ontological divergence within apparent commonality. Everyone “sees the same thing”, yet each reconstructs a different spatial configuration.
A paradox emerges: commonality is preserved at the level of the object, but breaks down at the level of experiential structure.
- The Algorithmic Mirror and the Personalisation of Reality
With the emergence of algorithmic systems, reflection ceases to be neutral. It becomes computed, adaptive, and predictive.
Thus appears the controlled mirror: the system does not simply display reality but constructs its representation based on a model of the user, their behaviour, and context.
This produces a shift: a shared reality fragments into personalised versions, each internally coherent and functional, but not required to coincide with others.
- Virtual Reality as Coordinated Simulation
In multi-user virtual environments, it becomes necessary to maintain consistency between participants. The world is no longer given in advance; it is computed as a shared result of interaction.
However, this commonality does not imply identical perception. It implies coordinated action within a shared simulation.
Reality becomes protocol-based: it exists insofar as the system maintains non-contradictory interaction among participants.
- AI as an Active Mirror and Generator of Ontology
With the introduction of AI, a qualitative shift occurs. The system ceases to be a passive reflector or a fixed simulator. It becomes an active generator of the environment.
The AI mirror does not simply show the world — it constructs it. This construction depends on the model of the subject: the system takes into account behaviour, preferences, and responses, forming an adaptive ontology.
A crucial point: a feedback loop emerges. The user does not merely perceive the world; they become an input into its generation.
- Post-Reality as a Mode of Coordinated Generation
As a result, a condition emerges that can be described as post-reality.
Its key feature is not the disappearance of reality, but the disappearance of a single external ground against which “true” and “false” could be distinguished.
Reality is no longer given as an external object. It is continuously produced — through interaction, synchronisation, and computation.
The criterion shifts from correspondence to the world to the stability and operability of the generated ontology within the system of interactions.
- Conclusion: From Shared Object to Distributed Ontology
The evolution of ontological synchronisation follows a последовательный shift:
from a shared object that can be pointed to
to a shared interface through which action is performed
to a shared flow of events that can be experienced
to personalised reflection that shapes experience
and further to active generation of reality adapted to interaction
In this perspective, reality ceases to be a stable stage. It becomes a process of coordination — a dynamic system in which ontologies do not simply coexist but are continuously produced and recalibrated.
Post-reality, in this sense, is not the end of the distinction between truth and illusion, but a transition to a regime in which that distinction is no longer fundamental.
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