Literary notes about latency (AI summary)
In literature, the term "latency" often conveys a state of hidden or dormant potential, yet it can also carry a negative connotation of passiveness. For instance, Mark Twain uses the word to describe a kind of inertness, referring to it as the "negative quality of passiveness"—a quality that exists in forms ranging from "recoverable latency" to "insipient latescence" [1]. This usage highlights an ambivalence in the term, suggesting that while latent qualities might be revived or transformed, they can also denote an early, undeveloped condition that contributes to inaction.