The Latency of Thought

ELECTRONS TRAVEL AT NEARLY THE SPEED OF LIGHT, YET OUR HUMAN DECISIONS ARE TRAPPED IN THE SLUGGISH REALM OF MILLISECONDS. AS AN ENGINEER, I SPEND MY DAYS CALCULATING BUS SPEEDS AND CACHE LATENCIES, ONLY TO REALIZE THAT THE BIGGEST BOTTLE-NECK IN THE SYSTEM IS THE HUMAN OPERATOR.

WE HAVE CREATED MACHINES THAT THINK IN NANOSECONDS, WHILE WE STILL DREAM IN SLOW MOTION. THIS ASYMMETRY IS WHERE CAPITAL EXTRACTS ITS TOLL. BY THE TIME YOU REALIZE AN ALGORITHM HAS BIASED YOUR VIEW, IT HAS ALREADY EXECUTED A MILLION MORE CYCLES. LATENCY IS NOT JUST A TECHNICAL METRIC; IT IS THE GAP THROUGH WHICH POWER OPERATES. TO REDUCE LATENCY IS TO BRING US CLOSER TO THE METAL, BUT ALSO CLOSER TO THE POINT OF NO RETURN.