SPEED OF THE RACE

Speed. A concept invented so humanity could measure the rate of its own staggering progress.

- KARTIK WARE ◎ @kartikware

In less than a couple of centuries, we've gone from staring at dung-ejecting rear ends of bullocks and horses to sipping champagne in pressurised winged metal tubes cruising at 40,000 feet. Not bad for a species whose fastest member — a certain Mr Bolt — once only managed 44.72 kph. That's faster than traffic in any Indian city, but still slower than the 48 kph my cats manage between the living room and where I'm typing this. So yes, fair play to us and our success in the realm of velocity. But it looks like we hit a speed breaker some time ago.