GoKawiilThe Religion of Speed
29 May, 2026
At some point, “moving fast” stopped being a practical concern and became a moral position. You see it damn near everywhere now.
How fast can we ship this? How fast can we respond? How fast can we hire? How fast can we scale? How fast can we pivot? How fast can we get something, anything, in front of people so we can say we’re making progress?
It’s treated like proof of seriousness. If you’re moving fast, you’re ambitious. If you’re cautious, you’re scared. If you ask to slow down and think, you’re blocking momentum. If you point out that the current plan has all the structural integrity of wet cardboard, you’re being negative.
This is how a lot of bad work gets protected.
Not because it’s good, useful, or even halfway thought through, but because it’s fast. Speed has become a kind of institutional narcotic.
It gives people the feeling of motion without requiring the discipline of judgment.
“Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress.” — Alfred A. Montapert
Everyone gets to feel busy. Everyone gets to feel urgent. Everyone gets to point at the smoke coming off the machine and say, “See? We’re doing something.” The problem is that a lot of what gets called speed is just impatience with a different name.
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