Overtaken

In the early to mid-1970s, my university classmate Ariel Rubinstein initiated a weekend hike from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. A group of us left Jerusalem on Friday night, planning to reach the Dead Sea early the next morning. However, due to navigation errors and other obstacles, we didn’t arrive until noon. We were all exhausted and out of water. I then hitchhiked back to Jerusalem and was picked up by a kind driver, who was driving a massive truck. The two-lane road from the Dead Sea (−392 meters) to Jerusalem (+800 meters) was steep, and from time to time, our truck overtook other vehicles in a rather dangerous fashion. Sensing my discomfort, the truck driver shared an interesting theory: “You see, the engine of this truck is so strong — so strong — that whenever I start to overtake, I can always complete the maneuver safely!” This struck me as incorrect. The ability to overtake safely depends not only on engine power, but also on factors like visibility, road conditions, and the…