Dave is hanging motionless from a rope that passes over a massless, frictionless pulley and is attached to a SuperMegaBigga size carton of Ben and Jerry's New York Super Fudge Crunch, which happens to be exactly the same mass as Dave. It is out of reach. Dave has a plan.
Both he and the ice cream are motionless. He will "let out" the rope hand-over-hand, as if feeding rope up to the pulley. He always carefully maintains a constant tension equal to his weight. That way, the net force on him will be zero and he will not be accelerating. Since the rope is passing upward through his hands, the ice cream will slowly make its way down to within reach. Has Dave thought his physics through thoroughly?
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