Reality’s coherence depends on a reserve of un-mapped imaginary territory

Evidence

Until now we have always had a reserve of the imaginary - now the coefficient of reality is proportional to the reserve of the imaginary that gives it its specific weight. This is also true of geographic and spatial exploration: when there is no longer any virgin territory, and thus one available to the imaginary, when the map covers the whole territory, something like the principle of reality disappears. — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 403

Categorization

• XREF: Reverses the Borges map/territory fable and connects to the map-precedes-territory thesis in the opening of Simulacra and Simulation; also resonates with Jameson’s cognitive mapping. — connects to: Models anticipate and immanently structure the real, leaving no space for fiction. — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 397; Imagination precedes and produces reality rather than reflecting it — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living With…, 152; Maps can construct territory rather than merely represent it — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 661 (+8 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that reality itself is a function of an imaginary reserve inverts standard empiricism - reality is not grounded but proportioned to what remains unrepresentable.

Broader Connections

• Imagination precedes and produces reality rather than reflecting it #expands (0.85) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 152
• Maps can precede and shape territorial reality rather than merely reflect it. #exemplifies (0.80) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 660
• Maps can construct territory rather than merely represent it #exemplifies (0.75) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 661