Thread by @oliveremberton

Most revolutions come from making things faster

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The Internet is ‘just’ a quicker way to communicate

Google is ‘just’ a quicker way to access knowledge

Smartphones are ‘just’ a quicker way to access a computer

Printing press? Fast handwriting

Electricity? Fast power

Computers? Fast math

Speed transforms what is possible:

A slow computer can do sums
A faster one, 3D worlds
Faster still, sentience

By being able to print faster, whole new possibilities emerged: literacy, books, newspapers, organised religions, political movements.

Faster printing literally increased humanity’s brain power.

The Internet made information even faster, which has transformed how we learn, shop, work, date, exercise, entertain, and more.

Now we command entire worlds through a pane of glass.

Today we see a breakdown in gatekeepers who limit the speed of what we access (newspapers, shops, schools, TV networks)

Replaced by digital platforms who accelerate how much we can get (Google, Amazon, Wikipedia, YouTube)

Sometimes the time required for something is so high that it seems virtually impossible, like colonising Mars.

By increasing the speed at which we can repeat spaceflight it becomes possible, and then viable, and eventually widespread.

The areas to watch are where speed can increase dramatically.

Imagine loans without banks, or taxes without accountants, or construction without manual labour.

Order ten thousand robots to rebuild your roads in a weekend.

The opposite is also instructive: being slow kills people (vaccines), their motivation (any kind of work), and their competitiveness (Blockbuster).

So if you’re looking for a way to improve the world, consider a way to make something a lot faster.

Enough speed can transform from a step into a revolution.