'Twas a weird day. I didn't feel like doing anything and
rather than delving into memories, I decided to look up what was new in memory.
Wow! GDDR6 and the move to DDR5 soon. What I noticed was clear. There is no
point going faster if it cannot be sustained. "Sustainable" is the
new key word and, while many may seem to deny that fact or choose to ignore it
entirely, there is no way we're making our way out alive. Everyone's going to
die some day. But why accelerate the process? After all we, like memory, seem
to have sped up everything to its potential anyway.
Like I said, we have reached immense speeds and now it's
pointless going faster. The key is increasing bandwidth and sustaining speed.
For instance, take the Bugatti Chiron. There's no point making
a car that goes 500 km/h in a straight line but has to slow down to 200 km/h to
take a corner. It's the same with everything. Getting up to speed is good,
getting there quickly is better, but sustaining it is the challenge. The key
now is to make something that can do 500, but can also corner at 400-450 or
more without losing control or having external forces push it off course. It's
the same with memory, cars, everything. Personally, in the real world, of
course, I'd rather have a car that seats 2+2 and can go from 20-60 in a brief
second while consuming zero fuel. I don't mind a top speed of 99 as well...
The thing is, though, we are living unsustainable lifestyle.
It's never about cooperation. Rarely is it about sustainability. It's more about
competition and one-upmanship. Motor racing is a waste of time, fuel and
effort. It created a whole system of wasteful procedures that had people
looking at it as a career. Burning fuel to go faster than the next person.
Entertaining? At some point it was. Pushing the envelope? In hindsight, that
seems completely irrelevant.
My job had me testing and driving and speeding
and, basically, enjoying the sights, sounds and thrills of combustion. Many
close to me think I've gone insane. "But you're doing what you always
wanted to do!" True. I am doing what I wanted to do. I don't want that
now. A V12 is wasteful. A V8 is just as wasteful, as is a V6 or a
straight-five. What do we need? Motive force? A 1.0L three working two jobs as
engine and generator to two or three electric motors, or a clean-fuel stack
doing that job would be just as effective in a 1.8-tonne luxury car as what
goes in them now. Oil companies spend millions if not billions sponsoring motor
sport at the expense of the Earth and its resources. What am I on about? Go
figure. I don't enjoy this life anymore. There's a huge change coming and we
best prepare for it.
The point is expanding simplicity. Doing more with less will
always be enough, if we choose to see it that way. There's no reason to stretch
and stockpile if it can be helped. Natural disasters will come and go, but
human disasters seem to be getting worse, evolving into potentially apocalyptic
forms at times.
We need to be responsible. Humans shed responsibility like a
weekly skin. Everything would work, pandemic or not, if people only took
responsibility for themselves. But, no. Even that seems too much to ask. If
you're ill. Stay home. If you're happy, smile. If you're sad, share. If you
have something to say, speak up. Stand your ground, but give other people their
space. Freedom for one does not mean overstepping the boundaries for another. Life
is short. And soon it won't even be a memory.