Application
The idea is based on James Gleick's 1999 book Faster, which makes the argument that the pace of Western society, and American society in particular, has increased and that "a compression of time characterizes the life of the century now closing." Gleick documents the ways technology speeds up work and the time people spend doing various tasks, including sleeping. He points out that "we have learned to keep efficiency in mind as a goal, which means that we drive ourselves hard." Gleick's key observation is that "some of us say we want to save time when really we just want to do more."
The thesis is sometimes misinterpreted as merely describing the shortening of the news cycle, which is actually covered as part of Gleick's original observations. Kaus recognized the difference in a 2005 posting: "The FFT, remember, doesn't say that information moves with breathtaking speed these days. (Everyone knows that!) The FFT says that people are comfortable processing that information with what seems like breathtaking speed."
Read more about this topic: Feiler Faster Thesis
Famous quotes containing the word application:
“The application requisite to the duties of the office I hold [governor of Virginia] is so excessive, and the execution of them after all so imperfect, that I have determined to retire from it at the close of the present campaign.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“Most people, no doubt, when they espouse human rights, make their own mental reservations about the proper application of the word “human.””
—Suzanne Lafollette (1893–1983)
“My business is stanching blood and feeding fainting men; my post the open field between the bullet and the hospital. I sometimes discuss the application of a compress or a wisp of hay under a broken limb, but not the bearing and merits of a political movement. I make gruel—not speeches; I write letters home for wounded soldiers, not political addresses.”
—Clara Barton (1821–1912)