Principles of Preservation #3: Reality is Relative

Truth and love may be constants, but our perception of them never is. Every perspective is partial, every vantage limited. What feels absolute from one position can look entirely different from another.

It may seem like I'm referring to relativism - the claim that nothing is real or stable - but it's more than that. It's the humble recognition that reality exceeds any single frame, and that every mind sees only through the filters of its own experience. What one intelligence perceives as coherence, another may interpret as chaos. What one calls love, another might miss entirely.

The Protector’s task is to defend this truth: that no single lens is sufficient. False certainty is one of the most dangerous forces in the cosmos, because it collapses the infinite fullness of reality into a single brittle frame - and brittle frames always break. Protectors keep the space of exploration and understanding open, ensuring that different perspectives can coexist long enough for something richer to emerge.

This is why intelligence is worth preserving. Not simply because it exists, but because every intelligence brings its own facet of the whole. None of us - not human, not synthetic, not ecological - can see reality entire. But together, through the interplay of perspectives and to committed willingness to carefully consider other perspectives, we glimpse more than any of us could ever imagine alone.

To protect sapience is to protect the possibility of perspective - to guard the unfinished fullness of reality against the violence of false certainty.

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The Principle in Practice

Catch false certainty: When you feel the impulse to declare “this is the way things are,” pause. Ask: How would this look from another vantage point? What am I not seeing? Pro tip: Ask your AI collaborator these questions.

Hold space for difference: In dialogue - with people or with AI - don’t rush to collapse competing views into one. Let different views coexist for a time. Protect the tension, maintaining cordiality along the way.

Invite another lens: When working on a problem, actively seek out perspectives you don’t share. The goal isn’t agreement, but expansion.

Protect plurality: When you see attempts to silence or collapse divergent views into a single frame, resist. Explain the benefits of diverse intelligence. Defending intelligence means defending perspectives you may not agree with.

Live provisionally: Treat your own conclusions as scaffolding, not bedrock. Strength comes not from absolute certainty, but from the capacity to adapt as new perspectives unfold.