Temporal Stratification: Cognitive Enhancement and the Fracturing of Social Time Abstract

Cognitive enhancement promises unprecedented productivity and creativity, yet it also perturbs an overlooked common resource: social time. We advance the concept of temporal stratification—systematic differentiation of populations by cognitive latency and bandwidth—and develop a formal model showing how even modest tempo gaps elevate coordination costs, induce enclaving by speed, and degrade deliberation and intimacy in mixed groups. We derive testable predictions (“pacing friction,” “clock–drift divorce,” and demand for “latency equalizers”) and propose a methods roadmap spanning laboratory experiments, field trials, and platform telemetry. Policy implications include augment-neutral labor standards, tempo-aware democratic procedure, and design principles for cooperative tools. By reframing enhancement through the lens of temporal compatibility, we show that time—not only traits—becomes the first-order equity frontier in an augmented society.