Comments by "Tony Wilson" (@tonywilson4713) on "TED-Ed" channel.

Great answer. Clarke wrote about it, because as it was a novel tool to use in science fiction. There's a great non-fiction book he wrote call "Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible (1962)" There's a 1984 version, which I read during my college years. Its basically a series of thought exercises in what's practical. He did discuss the space elevator but the one I remember better was "Could Da Vinci have mad a mechanical television?" His answer was YES, but also totally impractical. And that was the theme he repeated, what's doable versus what's practical to do. Yes space elevators are doable, but for the Earth totally impractical.
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