Force Fields and Reality

[S.BERRY]

Does your machine REALLY eat lines? Mine only gets parts of

I don't know how to tell you this, but I think you should know
that Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Captain Kirk, the Enterprise,
the Death Star, etc. DON'T ACTUALLY EXIST! They are all imaginary.
All of the episodes of Star Trek, including the movies, and all
three Star Wars movies are FICTION!

Nawwww, I don't believe it for a minute. Next thing, you'll be trying to
convince me that Santa and the Easter Bunny don't exist...Sheeeeeit!

...we (or at least I) like to pretend that there is a universe
in which the story takes place that has these physical laws.

Some of us also like to pretend that there are RATIONAL explanations
for what are obviously oversights and inconsistencies by authors who
don't bother to look ahead to the ramifications of their plots (an
impossibility given the sharpies in this group). We delight in trying
to come up with these explanations as an exercise in imagination and
(in the case of differing viewpoints) the fine art of persuasion.
I seem to recall an article in either this group or net.startrek some
months ago which defends this feeling more eloquently than I can.
I like to call the practice "suspension of suspension of disbelief"

I hope that this explanation was not too technical for you to
understand. If you have any more questions, find a 12 year old
science fiction fan and have him explain it to you.

I won't comment here except to say I resemble that remark (you can only
take sarcasm so far...)

SJBerry