Bottlenecks Get a Bad Rap

Poor bottlenecks. Always seen as problematic, antithetical to efficiency. But bottlenecks aren’t universally bad. Think about it: a bottle’s neck is designed to constrain the amount of liquid that can flow out. A decrease in bandwidth is its entire purpose! Otherwise an overwhelming amount of liquid flows out and makes a big mess. We humans have a particular anatomy. We can only consume so much liquid at a time. The neck of a bottle works with that fact. We could make machines to produce so much wine that we’re drowning in it. But that wouldn’t change the fact that we’re only capable of consuming so much liquid at a time (not to mention digestion, etc.). When it comes to liquid consumption, the bottle’s neck isn’t the bottleneck — our neck is! So if you’re having a hard time drinking out of a firehouse, perhaps the question isn’t, “How do I modify my biology to accommodate the bandwidth of the firehose?” But rather, “Why am I trying to drink out of a firehose in the first place?”…