On Pulsatile Dynamics, Arrhythmic Revolutions, and AI as an Event

Alf Rehn () and Stefan Roth-Kirkegaard ()
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Alf Rehn: University of Southern Denmark
Stefan Roth-Kirkegaard: University of Southern Denmark

Chapter Chapter 3 in Understanding Speed in Organizational Change, 2026, pp 35-54 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The human animal is a sensemaking one, always keen to establish patterns from what is observed in the surroundings. Part of this is the tendency to categorize according to velocity, first separating things that move from things that do not, later separating those things which move quickly—sabretooth tigers, invading barbarians, cars—from those which move slowly. This occurs on a number of levels, from micro to the metaphysical. We marvel at the speed of a cockroach, and we seek for that which appears to us as eternal. For early hominids, fast things were relatively rare, yet often dangerous. This made them worthy of observation, and it is likely part of our pattern recognition apparatus was affected by this—hominids that failed to observe small signals of a rapid animal close by could be excised from the gene pool at quite the pace. Later humans saw more fast things, and being able to work with these—be they a lathe or a longship—would often define your value to the surrounding community. Over time, speed became something more than a pattern. Akin to a value unto itself, it became admired by technologists, praised by futurists, and used to describe not just a specific era but a tendency of eras to become ever faster.

Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-11031-2_3

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