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Skyhook
Original Post
A term used by Daniel Dennet in his book Darwin’s Dangerous Idea to illustrate a fantastical, "false" approach to evolutionary development. As if by an illusory hook from the sky or deus ex machina the design of a species could leap forward, rather than being developed infinitesimally by the blind trial and error process of natural selection. Skyhooks don’t work, he says. Prozak takes a "skyhook" approach to her depression by "hooking," seeking to o’er leap the mind numbing pain she feels in an extreme ritual that does land her in a different place. She ends up in a coma, in the hospital, a prolonged dream, where her unconscious does the healing via the Platypus. In the realm of our psyches, if not in science, "skyhooks" while dangerous sometimes work.