Is It Too Late?

Abstract

In a cartoon loved by children everywhere, there’s a moment when Wile E. Coyote is chasing the Roadrunner so intently that he runs off a cliff without noticing he has left the ground. While he remains ignorant, gravity has no effect on him, although he does of course lose traction, and as his legs spin he looks out at us suspiciously. Our return gaze does not reassure him, and he gathers his courage and looks down. When he sees where he is, gravity immediately reasserts itself and he plunges faster than terminal velocity to the distant desert floor, where only a tiny puff of smoke or crack in the earth marks his impact. Oh dear; foiled again.