[Xodarap]

Pardon my naivete, but why isn't this obvious?

Of course two systems can only be consistent if they can communicate, so you have to either sacrifice availability until the partition is resolved, or give up on consistency.

[habitue]

Great proofs make their theorem sound obvious after you hear them. That's not the same as:

A) Formulating the theorem in the first place

B) Coming up with the proof yourself

[tbrownaw]

Some things that are "obvious" are not actually true if you look closely enough. Having a formal proof means that this is not one of those things.