Once I Had Learnt My Twelve Times

Once A Photograph Of The Earth, Taken From Outside, Is Available, Once The Sheer Isolation Of The Earth Becomes Known, A New Idea As Powerful As Any In History Will Be Let Loose.

One [idea] Was That The Universe Started Its Life A Finite Time Ago In A Single Huge Explosion, And That The Present Expansion Is A Relic Of The Violence Of This Explosion. This Big Bang Idea Seemed To Me To Be Unsatisfactory Even Before Detailed Examination Showed That It Leads To Serious Difficulties.

There Are Many Ways Of Knocking Electrons Out Of Atoms. The Simplest Is To Rub Two Surfaces Together.

Once I Had Learnt My Twelve Times Table (at The Age Of Three) It Was Downhill All The Way.

The Seemingly Insuperable Difficulties Of Deep-space Travel Suggest An Intention To Keep Us Fixed At Home In Our Own Solar System, And The Physical Nature Of Our Part Of The Universe, As Well As The Basic Rules Of Physics And Chemistry, Have A Warning Look About Them, Like Barriers Designed To Isolate Intelligent Life. This Means That For Us, Unlike The Situation For Humble Microorganisms, Deep-space Travel Is Probably A Stark Impossibility.