Human Viability Under Acceleration, #19

Modern societies rarely collapse because they lack intelligence, technology, or innovation. They collapse because the rate of change exceeds the capacity of humans to remain functional inside the systems they create. This condition—human viability under acceleration—is now the defining constraint of progress.

Acceleration is not merely speed. It is the compounding of speed across domains: science, technology, societal, geopolitical, economic, philosophical and environmental. Decisions that once unfolded over years now compress into minutes. Feedback loops tighten. Errors propagate instantly. Explanation trails action. What once felt like change now feels like perpetual motion.

Human beings did not evolve for this environment.

Human cognition is designed for pattern recognition over time, not continuous disruption. Judgment requires pause. Meaning requires narrative integration. Trust requires stability. Identity requires continuity. Acceleration strips away the time and space in which these capacities operate. The result is not adaptation, but degradation.

This is what “human ...