Monday, October 17, 2005

What will you do?

  • You're standing on top of a big sheet of ice in antarctica and you're naked; as far as you can see, there is no difference in view, in any direction; it is very slippery and you are freezing of course; you need to go somewhere but how will you start and get the momentum and how would you know which way to go?

  • You're a river, may be the colorado river several centuries back; you are trying to find the path that would get you to the sea by traveling the least distance, but of course you have no idea of what it is; On the way to the sea, you would definitely want to carve out the Grand Canyon, but have no idea where to begin and where the land would cooperate with you and give way; you have already made several horseshoe bends in your path and want to continue on a straight path as much as possible in the future; would you just keep hitting the rock till it breaks?
  • You're a spacecraft traveling in frictionless space, with a steady velocity. You have some retro-rockets that are intended for course correction; you have veered away from the intended trajectory for unknown reasons and you are trying to get back on it; remember, even a tenth of a degree has the potential to take you to some other galaxy that you never wanted to go; there are several gravitational forces along the way that you have to avoid and resist; you have only a few more retro rockets left and you haven't identified the galaxy you want to go to; what will you do?
  • If you are a person who can think of such things, what will you do?? :)

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