The Mechanics of Acceleration
The Cathedral Clock ticks exponentially because its drivers—capital, compute hardware, and algorithmic efficiency—are capable of compounding growth. Unlike biological or social systems, which hit saturation points (diminishing returns), the "Cathedral" (centralized labs like OpenAI, DeepMind, Anthropic) operates in a regime of increasing returns to scale. Every dollar invested in 2023 bought more intelligence than in 2022, attracting yet more dollars.
The Illusion of Singularity
This clock creates a perceptual distortion. To those inside the Cathedral, progress feels vertical—a "singularity" where everything changes overnight. This view is technically accurate (benchmarks do jump) but socially deceptive. It measures potential, not reality. It assumes that because a tool exists, it is being used. This fallacy is the primary source of AI alarmism: conflating the Model Release Schedule with the Civilizational Transformation Schedule.
Field Notes & Ephemera
The Two Clocks Problem: The fundamental tension of the AI age is that our tools are being built on exponential time (The Cathedral Clock), but our souls, laws, and cultures evolve on linear time (The Bazaar Clock). The resulting friction is what we call "Future Shock."