Why is Reality has a surprising amount of detail (2017 trending right now?

Why the essay is suddenly getting attention again

A recent TikTok post resurfaced John Salvatier’s 2017 essay “Reality Has a Surprising Amount of Detail.” A Medium writer noted that the post brought the essay back into their consciousness, sparking fresh discussion [1][3]. That single viral moment is the most direct reason the piece is trending right now.

The essay has actually been bubbling up for a while:

• A Substack newsletter re‑shared it in 2023 after getting a podcast recommendation [2].
• Another Substack writer applied its core idea in November 2025 to talk about black consciousness in America [4].

Those ongoing references show the concept keeps proving useful, but the current buzz seems tied to the TikTok post that recently gave it a new wave of attention.