Space and the Cognitive Realm

[drunkenbotanist]

So in the CR:

Physical realm bodies of water are land, and physical realm land masses are not traversable by foot in the CR. (Mistborn secret history, oathbringer, ROW) 

 

 

Vertical distance is compressed or non-existent (sja-anat interlude ROW, climbing down from Urithiru in ROW in Shadesmar)

 

And distance between planets is compressed in Shadesmar.

 

 

I'm assuming these things happen for the same reason.

I see two main possibilities for why these things happen one of them has slightly more support I think from WOBs. 

 

The more supported one is that travel between planets is faster in CR because no one lives there, there are no minds there in the physical realm. I didn't go looking for the WOBs but I believe this has been said a few times. 

And this phenomon also causes water to become land, etc

 

However, I've always wondered how much perception has to do with it instead of just *no minds exist in space*. Humans see a body of water as a single entity and cannot be traversed. So it manifests as a solid area in the CR because of the perception of the obstacle from the physical realm.

The physical realm land isn't solid in the CR because people in the physical realm move through it. It's more plastic in the CR because it's more accessible in the cognitive realm. -mist on Scadrial and beads on roshar. 

 

I believe people have asked and gotten RFAO'd about how if people start living in space then would the distances in Shadesmar expand. 

Before interplanetary travel entered the picture i had wondered if a civilization got really used to boat travel, would that affect the land in the CR because the perception of the water as this solid intractable entity changes. If this is the case, then the advent of space travel could make interplanetary travel in Shadesmar more difficult without people even living in space.  The ability to traverse space in the physical realm could change the perception of space, affecting CR distances. 

 

 

 

In all of this when I say perception I kind of mean the like societal understanding that could affect somethings cognitive aspect. 

[LewsTherinTelescope]

1 hour ago, drunkenbotanist said:

I believe people have asked and gotten RFAO'd about how if people start living in space then would the distances in Shadesmar expand. 

Answer seems to be that space stations might grow Cognitive space, but in general, space age isn't gonna have enough people actually in space to grow it. 

Quote

Questioner

In the Cosmere, as space becomes more developed...*inaudible* outer space.

Brandon Sanderson

It's an interesting question that I've had to ponder. Would the space race happen more slowly because there's an alternative, or would it happen more quickly because you know other planets are inhabited. I'm not going to answer what I came up with, because it's a plot point in the books. So I'll give you a RAFO card, but that's the question to ask yourself.

Questioner

That wasn't my question! My question was, in the Cognitive Realm, with the gap between planets...

Brandon Sanderson

Oh! Will the gap between planets get larger as more people travel in between it. So, barring things like space stations, there's going to be so few minds in between, that I don't expect space to become larger because of that.

I don't expect it to be a factor, except--barring--there will be possibilities of certain regions popping up.

Legion Release Party (Sept. 19, 2018)