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 - bigger ones - 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?  Or:  that's all gone now ...?

In the culture/time equation,  the idea that progression = enlightenment …  it's not like that.  Yes Time/Nous 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 an interactive game-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 get to 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 -