The Wake of Latency
The term latency finds its etymological root in the Latin latere, meaning “to lie hidden, to lurk,” which conceptually resonates with the Greek λανθάνω (lanthánō), “to escape notice.” Both terms evoke a state of concealment, something that is not immediately manifest. In Aristotle’s distinction between dynamis (potentiality) and energeia (actuality), the latent is that which possesses the ability to become. Plato’s concept of anamnesis, instead, posits that innate knowledge of universal truths lies dormant within the soul, which possesses it before birth.
