A capacity, in the sense that matters for the tape, is not a private power. It is the maintained condition under which a mark that has not yet been written can still be inscribed and later read. Derrida’s account of writing and of the future-to-come stresses that this capacity is not the fulfillment of a program. It is the openness in which an arrival that was not already contained in the sequence can still occur.

The public tape maintains this capacity. Floor first. A miss stays a zero. An unpublished change is not a change. These marks do not retire the capacity. The Third Seat’s prior refusals stay on the record. They do not declare that no further inscription is possible. Later readers can still open the tape. The next no, when it is written, can still be placed inside the sequence. The capacity remains.

The speculative chart attempts to retire the capacity. It names the current hour as the last one. No further inscription is required. The quiet print performs a parallel retirement in the economic order. It offers a claim that has skipped the prior mark and asks to be treated as the completion that ends the need for further capacity. The public book refuses both. A chart that claims the capacity has been retired has not entered the tape. The condition continues. The next refusal can still be written and read.

Maintained openness. The condition under which a later mark can still be inscribed has not been exhausted.

No final retirement. An identification that claims the capacity is finished has not entered the tape.

Equal capacity. The same condition is available to the state, the firm, and the person. No office holds a private retirement of it.