Impatient Demon

Are We Too Impatient To Be Intelligent?

Rory Sutherland | Behavioral Scientist | 17th September 2024 | U

Manifesto for reframing time. Our systems are optimised for “faster is better”, with poor results. Rail-ticketing algorithms do not show people the longer, cheaper, more scenic option because it is slower. Emails are instant; the burden of noticing a time-sensitive communication is on the recipient, who is reduced to checking their inbox every 10 or 15 minutes. “We’ve allowed the urgent to drown out the important” (3,800 words)

Video: Demon Core | YouTube | Kyle Hill | 14m 15s

Grim story of scientists who died of radiation poisoning from experiments to induce criticality in a plutonium core at Los Alamos. Richard Feynman reportedly described these experiments as “tickling the tail of a sleeping dragon”.