The discussion revolves around the performance of a new hashing algorithm boasting an impressive 71GB/s speed on the M4 architecture. Users compare this hash to established ones like xxhash and gxhash, emphasizing the importance of branch predictability, especially for short strings. Benchmarks reveal gxhash is faster than xxhash for short, variable-length strings, leading to a consensus that the performance differences at these high speeds may not warrant frequent switching between authentication methods. Some comments point out that while the new algorithm is competitive, alternatives like umash and gxhash offer better performance in certain scenarios.