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Thomas Friedman's "Thank you for being late" is a massive treatise on the idea that things aren't just changing fast, but that the rate of change is acceleratin

Thomas Friedman's "Thank you for being late" is a massive treatise on the idea that things aren't just changing fast, but that the rate of change is accelerating. https://www.amazon.com/Thank-You-Being-Late-Accelerations/dp/0374273537 https://www.amazon.com/Thank-You-Being-Late-Accelerations/dp... For a while after reading this, I believed that maybe we were in a bit of a slump and the rate of change wouldn't continue to accelerate. Now, with the societal / technological change brought by covid, the recent wave of building and excitement around Crypto (NFTs, DeFi, Web3), the continued jumps in AI, and a possible shift from phones to AR/MR glasses in the next few years, etc it's hard not to feel that the acceleration is continuing.

alan-crowe 5y ago
Consider the two dimensional curve, parameterised by t x = a * sqrt(t) + r * cos(t^2) y = b * sqrt(t) + r * sin(t^2) If you are monitoring long term progress towards (100a, 100b) you are disappointed to see that progress is slowing. And yet the short term whirl is whirling ever faster. I suspect that a weak version of Sapir-Whorf is in play. It is difficult to describe the equation in prose. The limitations of natural language handicap us in our efforts to defend against the pathology it exemplifies.
- MarkusQ 5y ago
  > I suspect that a weak version of Sapir-Whorf is in play. It is difficult to describe the equation in prose. The limitations of natural language handicap us in our efforts to defend against the pathology it exemplifies. I love the fact that you gave it as a parametric equation but I think at least a sense could be given in English "When something is spiraling towards a goal (think a bit of fluff going down a drain or a spinning coin slowly settling) you can find it simultaneously going faster and faster while still always taking longer than you expect to get there." Or, to quote Art Garfunkle: >But the ending always comes at last >Endings always come too fast >They come too fast >But they pass too slow

alan-crowe 5y ago

Consider the two dimensional curve, parameterised by t x = a * sqrt(t) + r * cos(t^2) y = b * sqrt(t) + r * sin(t^2) If you are monitoring long term progress towards (100a, 100b) you are disappointed to see that progress is slowing. And yet the short term whirl is whirling ever faster. I suspect that a weak version of Sapir-Whorf is in play. It is difficult to describe the equation in prose. The limitations of natural language handicap us in our efforts to defend against the pathology it exemplifies.

MarkusQ 5y ago
> I suspect that a weak version of Sapir-Whorf is in play. It is difficult to describe the equation in prose. The limitations of natural language handicap us in our efforts to defend against the pathology it exemplifies. I love the fact that you gave it as a parametric equation but I think at least a sense could be given in English "When something is spiraling towards a goal (think a bit of fluff going down a drain or a spinning coin slowly settling) you can find it simultaneously going faster and faster while still always taking longer than you expect to get there." Or, to quote Art Garfunkle: >But the ending always comes at last >Endings always come too fast >They come too fast >But they pass too slow