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aside from finding these chapters extremely dull, it did make me think about "impossible." he talks about skyhooks vs. cranes and this made me ask 'what is impossible?' he states that a skyhook is something impossible and not plausible, like superman, while a crane is something that is fantastic, but believable.

hasn't everybody heard the expressions, "anything's possible", "never say 'never'", or the nike slogan "impossible is nothing"? why do we as humans seem to try and make ourselves believe that anything can happen, that basic science is no barrier for what we believe (which i suppose is technically true, seeing as i could believe that an elf lives under my bed whether or not science supports it). this really reverts back to our fairytale unit and we all had a discussion over whether or not they were good for children. i saw that it raised everyone's hopes because it wasn't REALISTIC. fairy tales are skyhooks, and reality is a rusty crane.

but where is the line drawn betweeen skyhook and crane? what is possible and impossible? a third dimension was impossible to A. Square, the earth revolving around the sun was impossible to everyone, and humans emerging from lowly apes rather than Adam and Eve seemed impossible to everyone as well. basically, the world is just a series of 'who knows?' and impossibilities...