Apparently, Realmatics is a real theory...

[Kyzkle he/him]

I was perusing the web today after casually reading about some new AI research (side note, people have some ridiculous ideas about how AI works, with very little understanding) when I ended up reading about Karl Popper one of the greatest modern philosophers:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Popper

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popper%27s_three_worlds

 

Not going to lie, it actually blows my mind how similar this is to realmatic theory. For people who are more familiar with the theoretical underpinnings of the cosmere than they are with our own reality (i.e. all of us here), Popper describes reality as three seperate worlds: World 1 (the physical world), World 2 (the mental world), and World 3 (the world of objective truth). It's not identical, but it's unsettleingly close to realmatics.

 

I can't help but wonder if Sanderson was influenced by Popper, or if he just happened to come up with a theory that is nearly identical to one developed by one of the most respected philosophers in the scientific community, then decided to use it in his fantasy world rather than be bothered to publish it.

[Argent he/him]

I wouldn't be surprised either way, actually. It's not like this is the first overlap we've seen between our world and the cosmere either. I am most amazed that nobody has brought it up before...

[king of nowhere]

there are plenty of phylosophycal influences on the work of sanderson. for example, the spren are physical manifestations of plato's hyperuranium. And when shallan and jasnah are discussing the morality of the latter soulcasting people, most of those phylosophies mentioned have clear in-world equivalents. And there are also plenty of things inspired from the bible, although I'm not the most qualified to talk about those.

That said, some could be genuine coincidences. It's been 5000 years since the invention of writing, sometimes it's difficult to come up with something that hasn't been done before.

[Oudeis he/him]

I feel like I've heard somewhere that it was someone Greek, like Socrates, whose three-realm theory is what Mr. Sanderson says he was influenced by.

[WeiryWriter he/him]

I believe it was Aristotle and his forms.

[Shaggai]

I believe it was Aristotle and his forms.

It was Plato, no? Platonic forms?

[WeiryWriter he/him]

*waves hand* There is no mistake here... These are not the droids you are looking for...

[Argent he/him]

I am not sure the Forms apply. If anything, they are the Spiritual Realm, pretty much identical to Popper's World 3 - a realm of constant and eternal perfection. Our world is obviously our world, but I don't remember anything in Plato that resembles the Cognitive Realm.

[Oudeis he/him]

No, no, you're thinking of the ancient Greek philosopher, MacDonald.

 

Everyone knows old MacDonald had a form.

[skaa he/him]

Yeah, Platonic forms would exist in Popper's World 3. A million upvotes to Kyzkle for posting this! I've read about Popper before, but I must admit I've already forgotten about his three worlds theory by the time I encountered Brandon's Realmatics.

Edited November 5, 2014 by skaa