My dear Laputasian friend,
I thought you might appreciate the results of an analysis I have had our geologists here in England perform on a few samples of rock that I extracted from Laputa soil before leaving your floating island, thinking it might explain the island’s remarkable ability to hang unsupported in the air. The analysis revealed that Laputasian rocks contain large quantities of a mineral whose main constituent is adamantium, a rare element known previously for its refusal to yield, no matter what pressures may be applied. In your honor, we have elected to name the new mineral “Markenite.” This mineral appears to generate rays of a nature unknown to us, which apparently are the source of Laputa’s ability to float in the sky in defiance of the law of gravity.
Unfortunately, prolonged exposure to these rays began to have a disturbing effect upon our scientists, who became increasingly convinced of the wildest ideas. For example, some of them began to believe that they could simplify mathematical computations by decreeing PI to be exactly equal to 3 instead of the accepted value of approximately 3.14159. They became impervious to logical, mathematical, and even empirical evidence that contradicted their views; indeed, so convinced were they of these views that they absolutely refused even to acknowledge the existence of such facts! It was only after we confiscated our samples that their reasoning gradually returned to normal.
On a related matter, I have it from good sources that your analysis of the power law as a “behavioral” illusion involving the computation of curvature has been accepted with great enthusiasm among your fellow Laputasian scientists and your paper published in the prestigious Journal of Laputasian Science. According to these scientists, the work proves that all movement along any trajectory whatsoever must vary in speed along that trajectory in such a way that the velocity is always equal to the product of the cube root of D times the cube root of R. Having been persuaded of this, all Laputasian citizens now regulate their speeds of movements in conformity with this law, varying their speeds so as to equal exactly the values specified by this law.
I would warn you that your reasoning about the power law is based on a serious misunderstanding of the mathematical basis of the formula for curvature, but I now understand that such an effort would be wasted, surrounded as you are by Laputasian rock and the damaging effects of their rays upon one’s thought processes.
Yours as ever,
Lemuel Gulliver, Esq.