• OT - The impossibility of impossibility - Re: OT- Relativistic mechanic

    From Bret Busby@21:1/5 to Alain D D Williams on Sat Jun 7 14:40:02 2025
    On 7/6/25 18:56, Alain D D Williams wrote:
    On Sat, Jun 07, 2025 at 06:14:55PM +0800, Bret Busby wrote:

    According to the Doppler theory (I believe it was - this is from some
    decades ago), if you would be travelling toward a set of traffic lights, at >> the speed of light,

    You could not reach the speed of light


    Ah, yes, ... and man can never fly...

    "
    AUTHOR: George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
    QUOTATION: You see things; and you say “Why?” But I dream things that never were; and I say “Why not?”
    ATTRIBUTION: GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, Back to Methuselah, act I, Selected
    Plays with Prefaces, vol. 2, p. 7 (1949). The serpent says these words
    to Eve.

    President John F. Kennedy quoted these words in his address to the Irish Parliament, Dublin, June 28, 1963.—Public Papers of the Presidents of
    the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963, p. 537.

    Senator Robert F. Kennedy used a similar quotation as a theme of his
    1968 campaign for the presidential nomination: “Some men see things as
    they are and say, why; I dream things that never were and say, why not.” Senator Edward M. Kennedy quoted these words of Robert Kennedy’s in his eulogy for his brother in 1968.—The New York Times, June 9, 1968, p. 56.
    "
    - https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/respectfully-quoted/george-bernard-shaw-18561950-2/

    "
    “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela

    “To believe a thing impossible is to make it so.” – French Proverb

    “Never tell a young person that anything cannot be done. God may
    have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant enough of the
    impossible to do that very thing.” – G. M. Trevelyan

    “So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become
    inevitable.” – Christopher Reeve

    “Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – Lewis Carroll

    “It is either easy or impossible.” – Salvador Dali

    “To the timid and hesitating everything is impossible because it
    seems so.” – Sir Walter Scott

    “We have more power than will; and it is often by way of excuse to ourselves that we fancy things are impossible.” – Francois Duc De la Rochefoucauld

    “Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done.” –
    Robert A. Heinlein

    “The word impossible is not in my dictionary.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

    “Impossible only means that you haven’t found the solution yet.” – Anonymous

    “No one gets very far unless he accomplishes the impossible at
    least once a day.” – Elbert Hubbard

    “Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it
    impossible for anyone to accomplish.” – Marcus Aurelius

    “What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible,
    is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a
    function of our beliefs about who we are.” – Anthony Robbins

    “The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.” – Douglas Adams

    “We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them
    as impossible.” – Vince Lombardi

    “The only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your own thinking.” – Robert Schuller

    “The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible.” – Anonymous

    “In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd.” – Miguel de Cervantes

    “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve:
    the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho

    “Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they
    fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.” – Amelia Earhart

    “Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.” – Charles F. Kettering

    “Every noble work is at first impossible.” – Thomas Carlyle

    “There is nothing impossible to him who will try.” – Alexander the Great

    “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” – Walt Disney
    "
    - https://impossiblehq.com/25-impossible-quotes/

    Note, with emphasis, the second of those quotes, in that last set of quotes.

    And, remember - the breaking of the enigma code, was regarded as
    impossible, and, without the trying to break the code, and, the actions
    of Alan Turing and Joan Clark and their team, we would not have these
    devices named electronic computers, but, computers would still be the
    people who were the women in the movie "Hidden Figures". And, wasn't
    what was achieved in that movie - launching a rocket into space, and,
    later, travelling to the moon, all regarded as impossible?

    Read all of the quotes above, and, consider...

    And, remember, in the first series of Star Trek, they had talking
    computers and other things that computers were able to accomplish, way
    before humans got such achievements into practice.

    ..
    Bret Busby
    Armadale
    West Australia
    (UTC+0800)
    ..............

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Alain D D Williams@21:1/5 to Bret Busby on Sat Jun 7 15:10:01 2025
    On Sat, Jun 07, 2025 at 08:32:55PM +0800, Bret Busby wrote:

    You could not reach the speed of light

    Ah, yes, ... and man can never fly...

    We are bound by the laws of physics, just because you really, really, really want to dodge round them does not mean that you can. This is not politics where a good piece of oratory can persuade law makers to change a country's laws.

    Yes: it is possible that new physics might be found but Einstein's theory of relativity has been well tested and it is this that imposes the speed of light as a universal speed limit.

    And, remember - the breaking of the enigma code, was regarded as impossible,

    "regarded" is not the same as "forbidden by a well tested theory of physics".

    And, remember, in the first series of Star Trek, they had talking computers and other things that computers were able to accomplish, way before humans got such achievements into practice.

    No one ever said that talking computers were impossible. Yes: we did not know how to do it, tech has since progressed. So how is this relevant ?

    No amount of wishful thinking will persuade the universe to change the laws of physics.

    --
    Alain Williams
    Linux/GNU Consultant - Mail systems, Web sites, Networking, Programmer, IT Lecturer.
    +44 (0) 787 668 0256 https://www.phcomp.co.uk/
    Parliament Hill Computers. Registration Information: https://www.phcomp.co.uk/Contact.html
    #include <std_disclaimer.h>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Bret Busby@21:1/5 to Alain D D Williams on Sat Jun 7 15:30:01 2025
    On 7/6/25 21:05, Alain D D Williams wrote:
    On Sat, Jun 07, 2025 at 08:32:55PM +0800, Bret Busby wrote:

    You could not reach the speed of light

    Ah, yes, ... and man can never fly...

    We are bound by the laws of physics, just because you really, really, really want to dodge round them does not mean that you can. This is not politics where
    a good piece of oratory can persuade law makers to change a country's laws.

    Yes: it is possible that new physics might be found but Einstein's theory of relativity has been well tested and it is this that imposes the speed of light
    as a universal speed limit.

    And, remember - the breaking of the enigma code, was regarded as impossible,

    "regarded" is not the same as "forbidden by a well tested theory of physics".

    And, remember, in the first series of Star Trek, they had talking computers >> and other things that computers were able to accomplish, way before humans >> got such achievements into practice.

    No one ever said that talking computers were impossible. Yes: we did not know how to do it, tech has since progressed. So how is this relevant ?

    No amount of wishful thinking will persuade the universe to change the laws of
    physics.


    So, you contend that "the universe" is a cognitive entity?

    ..
    Bret Busby
    Armadale
    West Australia
    (UTC+0800)
    ..............

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Alain D D Williams@21:1/5 to Bret Busby on Sat Jun 7 15:40:01 2025
    On Sat, Jun 07, 2025 at 09:22:11PM +0800, Bret Busby wrote:

    No amount of wishful thinking will persuade the universe to change the laws of
    physics.


    So, you contend that "the universe" is a cognitive entity?

    No. My use of the word "persuade" was figurative.

    --
    Alain Williams
    Linux/GNU Consultant - Mail systems, Web sites, Networking, Programmer, IT Lecturer.
    +44 (0) 787 668 0256 https://www.phcomp.co.uk/
    Parliament Hill Computers. Registration Information: https://www.phcomp.co.uk/Contact.html
    #include <std_disclaimer.h>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Joe@21:1/5 to Bret Busby on Sat Jun 7 17:50:01 2025
    On Sat, 7 Jun 2025 20:32:55 +0800
    Bret Busby <bret@busby.net> wrote:


    "
    “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela

    “To believe a thing impossible is to make it so.” – French
    Proverb

    “Never tell a young person that anything cannot be done. God may
    have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant enough of the
    impossible to do that very thing.” – G. M. Trevelyan

    “So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.” – Christopher Reeve

    “Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – Lewis Carroll

    “It is either easy or impossible.” – Salvador Dali

    “To the timid and hesitating everything is impossible because it seems so.” – Sir Walter Scott

    “We have more power than will; and it is often by way of excuse
    to ourselves that we fancy things are impossible.” – Francois Duc De
    la Rochefoucauld

    “Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done.” – Robert A. Heinlein

    “The word impossible is not in my dictionary.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

    “Impossible only means that you haven’t found the solution yet.” – Anonymous

    “No one gets very far unless he accomplishes the impossible at
    least once a day.” – Elbert Hubbard

    “Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it
    impossible for anyone to accomplish.” – Marcus Aurelius

    “What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or
    impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more
    likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.” – Anthony Robbins

    “The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.” – Douglas Adams

    “We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of
    them as impossible.” – Vince Lombardi

    “The only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your
    own thinking.” – Robert Schuller

    “The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible
    and achieves the impossible.” – Anonymous

    “In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the
    absurd.” – Miguel de Cervantes

    “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to
    achieve: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho

    “Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.” – Amelia Earhart

    “Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.” – Charles F. Kettering

    “Every noble work is at first impossible.” – Thomas Carlyle

    “There is nothing impossible to him who will try.” – Alexander
    the Great

    “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” – Walt Disney
    "
    - https://impossiblehq.com/25-impossible-quotes/


    Another Heinlein:

    “Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and
    why. Then do it.”

    --
    Joe

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Bret Busby@21:1/5 to Alain D D Williams on Sat Jun 7 23:00:01 2025
    On 7/6/25 21:05, Alain D D Williams wrote:
    On Sat, Jun 07, 2025 at 08:32:55PM +0800, Bret Busby wrote:

    You could not reach the speed of light

    Ah, yes, ... and man can never fly...

    We are bound by the laws of physics, just because you really, really, really want to dodge round them does not mean that you can. This is not politics where
    a good piece of oratory can persuade law makers to change a country's laws.

    Yes: it is possible that new physics might be found but Einstein's theory of relativity has been well tested and it is this that imposes the speed of light
    as a universal speed limit.

    And, remember - the breaking of the enigma code, was regarded as impossible,

    "regarded" is not the same as "forbidden by a well tested theory of physics".

    And, remember, in the first series of Star Trek, they had talking computers >> and other things that computers were able to accomplish, way before humans >> got such achievements into practice.

    No one ever said that talking computers were impossible. Yes: we did not know how to do it, tech has since progressed. So how is this relevant ?

    No amount of wishful thinking will persuade the universe to change the laws of
    physics.

    "Engineers once believed flying at the speed of sound would be impossible"
    - https://www.history.com

    ..
    Bret Busby
    Armadale
    West Australia
    (UTC+0800)
    ..............

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From James H. H. Lampert@21:1/5 to Bret Busby on Mon Jun 9 17:20:01 2025
    On 6/7/25 1:58 PM, Bret Busby wrote:
    "Engineers once believed flying at the speed of sound would be
    impossible"

    I've been following this thread intermittently during my vacation. And
    almost immediately, this quote from Arthur C. Clarke came to mind:

    If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is
    possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is
    impossible, he is very probably wrong.

    --
    JHHL

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)