15.2. Fast and Slow Layers

In his book The Clock of the Long Now, Stewart Brand introduces the notion that society is a construct of several layers, each with a unique and suitable rate of change (Figure 15-2). The slow layers provide stability; the fast layers drive innovation. The independence of speed between layers is a natural and healthy result of societal evolution. Imagine the alternative. How about commerce moving at the pace of federal bureaucracy? Remember the Soviet Union?