Why do existing consensus protocols rely on hardcoded network latency bounds?

Every permissionless consensus protocol — including Bitcoin's Nakamoto Consensus and current DAG-based systems — must lock worst-case network latency assumptions into its rules at design time, before deployment. Because those parameters are hardcoded rather than adaptive, the protocol cannot adjust if real-world network conditions shift. The security the system provides holds only as long as actual latency stays within the range the designers originally assumed — step outside that range and the security guarantees can break down. For a beginner, this is the structural weak point that motivates DAGKNIGHT, the protocol described on this page: the existing approach ties safety to a network assumption that may not always hold.