I recall there being this huge internal debate about whether or not there's any sort of external normative quality metric to reality, or if it's all subjective.
The conclusion is that there's a DAG of 'flow' where information or something else moves from reality to reality, with the downstream realities being more capable of peaceful self organization and intellectual pursuits. The ship which brings people to the Anathem society has collected something like 3 societies in it, the first being relatively barbaric, and then each improving with each jump as it continues down the DAG. I think it's implied that we're one step under the protagonist's world on that ordering.
ooOOooh! Shoot, I totally remember that part now. Ha. I'd totally dismissed it as nonsense. But it makes sense now. Ah, that lovely meta narrative. I love 4th wall breaking in literature. Good stuff.
The conclusion is that there's a DAG of 'flow' where information or something else moves from reality to reality, with the downstream realities being more capable of peaceful self organization and intellectual pursuits. The ship which brings people to the Anathem society has collected something like 3 societies in it, the first being relatively barbaric, and then each improving with each jump as it continues down the DAG. I think it's implied that we're one step under the protagonist's world on that ordering.