Chapter 6 Summary

Ishmael is uncharacteristically playful next morning, and the narrator is tempted to remind him he is a gorilla but refrains. The Takers' false axiom that certain knowledge about how to live is unobtainable is a wall that must be scaled. Prophets are unnecessary, as one can consult what is actually there. A century ago, people are assured they cannot fly and told there is no reason to look for a way; not one piece of knowledge about flying cold be considered certain. Everyone has a theory (flapping wings, fixed wings, etc.) and proceeds, inefficiently, to test it by trial and error. All they need is the knowledge that air flowing over an airfoil inevitably creates lift. Early aeronauts simply do not know there are laws of aerodynamics. The narrator begins to see the parallel to the Takers' position on how to live, but...