An instrument in two steps

Where do you stand on the nature of reality?

Fifteen questions, asked one at a time, resolve to one of twenty-one cosmologies — from classical deism to analytic idealism to plasma cosmology. A second step then refines that position into the specific reading you actually hold. Nothing is scored; the instrument only traces where your answers lead.

15Questions
21Cosmologies
74Refinements

The question tree is adapted from Buster Benson's What are your beliefs about the nature of reality? — the original branching quiz this instrument is built on.

How it works
STEP ONE

Follow the branching

Each answer sends you to the next relevant question rather than the next in sequence. Most paths resolve in three to five steps.

STEP TWO

Refine the position

Every cosmology contains three or four distinct readings. The second step separates them so the result names a real view, not a broad label.

ANY TIME

Revise or explore

Click any step in your trail to answer it differently, read every position in the Atlas, or open the Map to see the full structure at once.

Tip: press 1–9 to answer, ← to go back
The Atlas

Twenty-one positions on the nature of reality

Every cosmology in the instrument, with its full set of refinements and the route of answers that leads to it. Filter by family, or open any card to read it in full.

The Map

The whole instrument at a glance

Every question, every answer, and every destination. Drag to pan, scroll to zoom. Click a question to enter there, or a destination to read it. Your own path, once taken, is drawn in signal orange.

answer route
your path

Note: Question 9 is reachable from two directions — the structure is a network, not a simple tree.