Manipulation
Of the above, the manipulatable characteristic of Culture is the most pertinent to our story.
There are periods in history, long-ones, where: whoppers told by those with the cultural clout to make them come true … came true … ! Cultural Influencers succeeded in track-jumping Reality onto a non-Truth, alternative universe. Anthrax/Iraq War 2 is one (non-contentious?) example - but there are many others - we'll get there shortly.
That raises some questions:
If Culture can exert mass influence on its human components to create a fake reality, are we living in a Lie-averse, an Unreality?
What happens to the real Reality/Time/Future - that was hi-jacked?
Does that still exist? In some parallel mode? Can we re-connect?
In the culture/time equation, the idea that progression = enlightenment … it's not like that. Yes Time can travel towards the light, but also sideways, backwards, into darkness … It’s not a fixed-deal … well it isn’t, until it is.
Fixing the deal in a random world is the goal. It's in our DNA to do that. The more you fix it, the better. Moreover, it’s a War - against whoever you project to be a threat. If you control the Cultural Image of reality, you control everything, including Time, whatever that means … you decide.
Therein lies Culture's time-travelling trick. Orwell puts it best in 1984 (written 1948):
Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past
Jesus Culture is a good example of how that works - at scale -