Ever since I was a kid, I frequently revisit the idea that we don't really live in the moment, but just behind it. Our bodies are incredible machines that work wonders to encode reality into some form we can deal with. It takes a measure of time for reality to impress on our conscious selves. That is latency.

We have clear limits on our perception and those limits shape us in ways we are not always aware of.

Magicians exploit those to entertain us. Scientists build machines to enhance this and transcode this to inform us. And we sometimes close our eyes and imagine we are there, in the moment, able to grok everything as if it were part of us.

As kids, this latency is at it's lowest. We are smallest, our brains are quickest, our senses are fresh, sharp and robust. We see the world at a scale that slowly creeps to a greater distance, isolating us and hardening us.

We forget to play. Our tolerance for imperfections grows. The world seems less vibrant and alive. We grow lonely sometimes.

We die.

The craftsmanship article I linked recently ties into this. When we work through a medium, explore it, get to know it enough to just play with it, latency is at it's lowest! Thought is very nearly action --and for us, it is action as that's as good as it gets!

For those of you with kids, I know you've experienced this reality check. Just playing for the day, or doing things at their scale wakes us up, makes us remember what it is to just be alive and close to the moment.

Do this. You will feel better about things and might even learn something.

"Latency"


Honey, take out the garbage would you?

Sure, just a minute.

45 minutes later.........garbage still sitting there...........that's the longest minute i've ever seen!


"Latency"

YEAH!!

Latency? I thought that was some bizarre sex fetish!

So you're saying I should take the christmas tree down, get the garden tilled, take down the storm windows, and put the screens up?

Roger,This is Oregon man! Keep the storm windows up,ya never know when you'll need them!

(roger wishes it was Oregon) my zip code starts with a 4 rather than a 9