Editing 2011: Newton's Trajectories

{{comic
| number    = 2011
| date      = June 25, 2018
| title     = Newton's Trajectories
| image     = newtons_trajectories.png
| titletext = With just one extra line, he could have anticipated the 2003 film The Core, but some things are too audacious for even the greatest visionaries.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a cannonball - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Image:1669780A-D3EE-43E7-BD94-DD34B224BFF4.gif|thumb]]

The comic shows the Earth, with three apparent rockets on separate trajectories. One set is released with sufficient velocity to remain in a stable orbit, while the other two fall towards the Earth. This is a slight modification of {{w|Newton's cannonball}}, a thought experiment demonstrating the planetary effects of gravity.

Here, Newton's cannonball is used both to observe humanity’s technological future (interplanetary travel, availability of advanced technology to the masses, and constant scientific improvement; or nuclear desolation and the extinction of our species) and to underscore that argument by pointing out the inherent metaphor in the experiment: the cannonball can only escape the atmosphere by achieving high velocity (i.e. escape velocity). One might imagine that similarly, technological progress might only deliver us from nuclear extinction if it happens quickly; that otherwise, mankind will destroy itself.  Of course, that threat only exists because of quick technological progress in the first place.

The phrase "slip the bonds of Earth" comes from the sonnet "[http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/highflig.htm High Flight]" written in 1941 by John Gillespie Magee Jr., an American pilot in the Second World War. Portions of this poem appear on the headstones of many interred in Arlington National Cemetery, particularly aviators and astronauts.

The title text alludes to the unfortunate film ''{{w|The Core}}'', involving drilling to the center of the Earth. If there had been one more line that returned to Earth much more quickly than the others, its trajectory would point toward the center of the earth. Apparently, not even Newton could predict such a disaster.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}