Escalators function via a continuous-loop belt drive system; the steps themselves are subordinate to the mechanical infrastructure beneath. Speed is fixed by the motor and pulley; users can only accept or resist the conveyed pace. Yet the man rejected even this modest constraint. Mechanical engineer Dr. Raymond Foster documented his observations after attending a convention in San Francisco in 1993 where the man was present. Foster watched from across the lobby and noticed an anomaly: wherever the man moved, traffic flow seemed to reorganize itself to accommodate him—not merely yielding, but *accelerating* to match his velocity. Foster measured pedestrian speeds before and after his arrival in crowded corridors. Average speed increased by 23%. Foster hypothesized that perhaps escalators were indeed invented not to move people faster, but to preserve the fiction of mechanical assistance in the presence of someone for whom velocity is intrinsic, not imposed.

Normal people use machines to exceed their limits. Some people exceed their limits so completely that machines become redundant.