The Intersection of Velocity and Proximity

You ever end up in bumper-to-bumper site visitors? I did this morning on the way in which to work (learn: no matter cafe I fancy). There’s a sample to it, proper? Cease, go, cease, go, cease… it’s virtually rhythmic and harmonious in essentially the most annoying of how. Everybody in line follows the dance, led by some automobile upfront, every subsequent automobile pressed proper as much as the rear of the following for the luxurious of transferring just a few toes additional earlier than the following step.

Photograph by Jakob Jin

Have you ever tried breaking the sample? As a substitute of enjoying shadow to the automobile in entrance of me this morning, I allowed area between us. I’d step by step increase my proper foot off the brake pedal and depress the fuel pedal solely as soon as my neighboring automobile gained a little momentum. At that time, my automobile begins to crawl. And proceed crawling. I not often needed to faucet the brakes in any respect as soon as I obtained going. In impact, I had sacrificed proximity for a smoother experience. I will not be touring the “quickest” in line, however I used to be definitely gliding together with quite a bit much less friction.

I discover that many issues in life are like that. Getting closest to something comes with a value, be it monetary or consequence. Need the VIP ticket to a live performance you’re stoked as heck about? Pony up some additional money. Need the total story fairly than a headline? Simply enter your e-mail deal with. Need up-to-the-second data in your inventory ticker? Hand over some account data. Need entry to all of at present’s televised baseball video games? Choose up an ESPN+ subscription.

Proximity and pace are the commodities, the merchandise so to talk. Nearer and quicker are what’s being offered.

You could have run into the “regulation of diminishing returns” in some intro-level economics class you took in highschool or school. It’s the premise for a big swath of financial concept however in essence, is the “an excessive amount of of a superb factor” precept. It’s what AMPM commercials have been preaching this complete time.

I’m embedding the clip as a substitute of linking it up as a result of it clearly illustrates the “downside” of getting too lots of what you need (or want). Dude resorted to asking two teenagers to succeed in into his entrance pocket for his pockets as a result of his arms had been full, creeper. However purchase on, the business says, as a result of the implication is that there’s by no means an excessive amount of of a superb factor, even when it ends in a not-so-great state of affairs chockfull of friction.

The one and solely factor I took away from physics in school — in addition to gravity pressure being 9.8 m/s2 — is that there’s no technique to have larger, cheaper, and quicker on the similar time. You possibly can take two, however all three can not play collectively. For instance, you’ll be able to have a spaceship that’s quicker and cheaper, however chances are high that it ain’t gonna be larger than a typical spaceship. If you happen to had been to purpose for larger, it’d be quite a bit much less low-cost, not just for the additional measurement but in addition to make the dang heavy factor go as quick as potential. It’s a superb rule in life. I don’t have proof of it, however I’d wager Mick Jagger lives by it, or no less than did at one time.

Velocity. Proximity. Quicker and slower. Nearer and additional. I’m not going to attract any parallels to internet improvement, UX design, or some other front-end factor. They’re already there.

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