In my ninth world-building journal entry, I write about the intentional imperfections of the world that I have built. The “real world,” or as close to it as I ever get, is a messy one. There are differences of opinions, differences of viewpoints, and even differences of hypotheses about scientific (objective) reality. Every answer reveals another question.

Is this because we are all cranky and doomed to disagree? I think that it is because there is more to the universe that we can ever see. What each of us sees can be (will be) different, perhaps massively different and perhaps subtly different. This means that there will always be contention about what the truth of that universe is.

If I can be permitted to use the phrase “realistic world building,” it should mean that the constructed universe should be similarly inconsistent and incomplete. There should be an inherent mystery to the construction that mirrors this world. Not so much as to get in the way of the story but enough to provide a richer texture for the world built for the story. Enough to cause the players on the stage to have differing motivations. And by all of this, I mean a world that is deliberately incomplete, even in the author’s mind.

So much of what we see in this world of ours is cast in terms of “good and evil” with an imperative to destroy those who do not hew to the truths that we hold dear. I believe that Good and Evil exist, but I also believe that the noisy parts of our existence have more to do with differences in perception than with any theological truths.

The world that I have built and populated with events is deliberatly painted with muted colors and shades of gray. Just like this world, if one is “realistic.” It is not that this way is a better way. It is that this world has stories that are more interesting to me. At least as I perceive it.

You can navigate to this entry from the list in The Journals of Eric Stapleton or directly via Journal: The Teleological Aspects of Time Travel.

Some philosophical musing on a stormy Tuesday morning.