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Bigger bar better. My late colleague Gordon Mah Ung coined this catchphrase to summarize the general attitude toward benchmarks. When each successive generation comes out, most people look to see if the numbers went up—and by how much.

You already know the outcome. The bigger the jump in number, the happier the conversations. (Or at least, one “side” in the debate is much happier.) When the numbers appear to only crawl forward, everyone reacts in a more subdued way.

But is this truly natur

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