Slow down and smell the Roses

Dr. Srithematics looked wistfully at the early models of transportation from the bulky horse carriage to the steam engines to the Apollo 11 replica which put man on the moon. 

"The good old days" he says "when we attacked nature with a brute savage force and won. Things happened so quickly yet so slowly."

"But why Professor?" Kjung Suratkel exclaimed, his voice mixed in agony, his eyes moist with tears "We lost so much time so many people...civilizations". His voice rising in pain. 

"This is the way it was supposed unfold Kjung." Dr. Srithematics replied "Like the 4-cushion shot on the pool table"

"H-uh?"

"I read this in one of those books from the 20th century. A 4-cushion shot is extremely complicated but if you reverse engineer its path...this is the way it was supposed to happen."

"Yjbariash" Kjung whispers "While scientists were inventing ways to move faster and faster, compressing different forms of energy, harnessing the sun, emitting plumes of toxic carbon pollutants; there was one man who spent all his life trying to slow things down. They laughed at him, just like they had laughed at Galileo and mocked Charles Keeling...when will we ever learn to respect science?"

"At the same time these scientists give up their stubbornness and openly believe in magic . We owe so much to so few.Slowing us down so that Earth would continue to spin but we come to a stop in space-time...space atleast...the time part came much later. He was able to transport at speeds not heard of before - moving a canister in 2 milliseconds from Twin Peaks to Seychelles. Of course, it was intended for the Caribbean..hehee." Srithematics giggled like a small girl "He desperately tried to track it down using his West Indian contacts but I guess they were too busy smoking ganja and came back empty-handed. He was shattered, the local media declared him a failure, his friends questioned his intelligence calling him a raving lunatic...a hack."

"Then it happened, suddenly - out of the blue, a facebook message which cryptically read 'We have it'. He nearly collapsed with joy.,,,,we owe so much to so few. A romantic couple honeymooning on the island had come upon boxes of food, water, and first aid kits with a small note to add Om lette Pierre on their facebook." 

"As the news spread virally on the internet - numerous companies tracked Om down and made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Actually, he refused and that's why we are where we are today. His contraption moved objects faster than anything else because it worked with nature not against it. KJung - all through the ages, man has been trying to overcome gravity and friction. Both are nasty forces which make apples fall off trees and rolling stones come to a stop. What if we could make them our friend instead? By increasing mass of the object, he was able to increase its gravity and consequently its friction. The key was not the absolute mass itself but its rapid increase - like slamming the brakes of the Shinkansen. And voila - he was able to transport objects through space-time." 

"Why move faster than Earth when you can let Earth overtake you? All you needed was to slow down and smell the Roses."