Social acceleration forces action partly as defensive running to stay current

Evidence

So while the entrepreneur would like to sit on the beach and leisurely fish, he has the feeling that he is sitting on a or, more precisely, several slippery slopes or standing on a descending escalator: he had better start running so he can stay in place, so he can stay current. Therefore, it is not only the promise of technology that drives him to increase the tempo of his life but also the highly dynamic nature of his technological, social, and cultural environment, which has become more and more complex and contingent and thus compels him to do this. — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 63

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘running to stay in place’ image is essentially the Red Queen effect, familiar from evolutionary and organizational theory. — connects to: Understanding social acceleration requires mapping what resists it — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 269