Layer-Relative Reality - Bryant McGill

# Layer-Relative Reality **Entity class:** Concept or analytic term **Domain:** Ontology / Simulation / Rights **Doc Type:** Canonical Concept Node **Maturity:** Developed **Related:** [[wiki/Simulated World|Simulated World]], [[wiki/Ontological Reciprocity|Ontological Reciprocity]], [[wiki/Recursive World-Building|Recursive World-Building]] --- ## Definition **Layer-Relative Reality** is the principle that a world may be computationally derived relative to the substrate that implements it while remaining the causally effective and phenomenologically lived reality of its inhabitants. ## Context “Simulated” and “real” do not name mutually exclusive experiential classes. Simulation describes an implementation relation; reality describes, among other things, the environment within which events affect a subject. A lower world can therefore be artificial to an administrator and home to its inhabitants. The concept does not establish consciousness in any actual computational system. It prevents implementation status from deciding that question in advance. ## Constitutional Function Layer relativity blocks substrate rank from becoming moral rank. If an evaluator's own world could occupy the same derived relation to another layer, rights principles must survive that reversal. ## Key Insight **A world's causal ancestry does not determine whether life within it is lived.** ## Sources / Provenance - Canonicalized from [[wiki/The Thirteenth Floor (1999)|The Thirteenth Floor]] and the [[wiki/Simulacron-3|Simulacron-3]] lineage. - This is a corpus concept, not a claim that our world is simulated. ## See Also [[wiki/Rights|Rights]], [[wiki/World Simulation (Control Substrate)|World Simulation]], [[wiki/Continuant vs Native|Continuant vs Native]] ## Relationships  This entry is routed through [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]], [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]], and [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]]. Its source context is developed in [[articles/Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta|Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta]] and [[articles/Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer|Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer]]. Status-qualified source edges are preserved in the terminal Research Edges section.  ## Read First in the Wiki  - [[wiki/Continuant vs Native|Continuant vs Native]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **Layer-Relative Reality** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Recursive World-Building|Recursive World-Building]] — supplies the related place or jurisdiction context needed to place **Layer-Relative Reality** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Rights|Rights]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **Layer-Relative Reality** within the wider system. - [[wiki/Simulated World|Simulated World]] — supplies the related concept or analytic term context needed to place **Layer-Relative Reality** within the wider system.  ## Research Edges  #### Host–residual infrastructure patch — 2026-09-10 **Collections:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] · [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]] · [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] **Canonical source article:** [[articles/Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta|Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta]] **Related acquisition source:** [[articles/Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer|Technologies for Consciousness Mapping and Transfer]] **Relationship source:** [[research/Mind Uploading and AI Host-Residual Ecosystem Relationship Graph - 2026-09-10|Mind Uploading and AI Host-Residual Ecosystem Relationship Graph — 2026-09-10]] #### Outgoing typed edges - **HR-0734 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Continuant vs Native|Continuant vs Native]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Layer-Relative Reality.md`. - **HR-0735 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Recursive World-Building|Recursive World-Building]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Layer-Relative Reality.md`. - **HR-0736 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Rights|Rights]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Layer-Relative Reality.md`. - **HR-0737 — `wiki_links_to` → [[wiki/Simulated World|Simulated World]]** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Layer-Relative Reality.md`. #### Incoming typed edges - **HR-0964 — [[wiki/Recursive World-Building|Recursive World-Building]] `wiki_links_to` → this entry** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Recursive World-Building.md`. - **HR-1054 — [[wiki/Simulated World|Simulated World]] `wiki_links_to` → this entry** — **EXISTING WIKI EDGE**; evidence `WIKI_ARCHIVE`. Direct internal link currently present in `Simulated World.md`.