The acceleration test

Five days ago, this reading named the great mismatch: planetary systems operating on geological timescales, human attention operating on seconds. The mismatch was abstract — a structural observation, a pattern identified across scales. It is no longer abstract. In the span of 72 hours, the collective attention system has been asked to process: the killing of a supreme leader, a multi-front war, the closure of a global trade artery, a potential energy crisis for 2 billion people, the constitutio ...