Is it true that nothing is impossible just improbable?


The only way to state that nothing is impossible with any accuracy, or authority, would be if you knew everything.

If nothing were impossible, then it would be impossible for something to be impossible. If that sounds strange or complicated, look at it this way - - contradictions can create impossible circumstances. The very nature of a rule that makes all things possible, rules out anything being impossible, thus creating an impossiblity by its own existence. The term "impossible" means that something can't exist. If all things were possible then there "can't" be anything that is impossible, and that makes the statement impossible by contradiction.

A famous analogy is to ask a person who believes in God, "can God do everything?" If the answer is no, then there is something impossible for God. If the answer is yes, then inquire, "can God can make a rock." If the answer is no, then there is an impossiblity. If the answer is yes, then ask one more question, "can God build a rock bigger than he can lift. A "yes" answer means that God can not lift every rock (there's your impossibility). A "no" answer means that God can lift every rock, but it is impossible for God to make a rock bigger than he can lift. Either way, you have an impossible set of circumstances.

Trying to prove something is impossible is trying to prove a negative - like trying to prove that Unicorns don't exist. It can't be done, because you can never conclusively eliminate the possibility that there is a unicorn out there, somewhere.

The most we can do is rule out things based on their extreme, extreme unlikeliness, and what we know about our world. For example, it is effectively impossible for me to survive for more than about 1 minute outside an airlock in open outer space without a space suit.

unless you can hold your breath for more than 1 minute

could the impossible become more possible if you put your mind to it?

.

I think anyone who took the idea of God seriously as something other than a mere mathematical whatsit waiting to be disproved with a simple paradox, would have to rephrase the first statement:

Nothing is impossible within the mind of God.

All that can be is within the mind of God. God cannot create a rock which is outside the mind of God. God cannot create anything larger than God because God in this context is defined as creation itself, largeness itself.

.

There are many things that are impossible. For instance:

Standing in the middle of a room, unmoving, and trying to touch a ceiling that is 20 feet above you with out any outside help.

im just getting confused

true, but from what gandalf2013 said " I do believe everything is possible. We may be limited (for now) on what is possible and impossible." so maybe in the distant future we might be able to fly with out moving anything

maybe when we have made the impossibles possible there will be new impossibles that we will come across, like a never ending cycle.

My apologies, Mithrandir, I was replying to this from Dark Fusion. I like your resolution of the paradox as well.

You wouldnt die from lack of air, you would explode in a vaccum.

i never even thought of that

I don't believe that everything is possible.

Could you jump out of a plane at 14,000 ft, skydive onto a helicopter propeller lower down, be chopped up into 1 inch cubes, have your body fall and scatter across the ground and still live? ...


NO!

sooner or later impossibles will become possible and then new impossibles will be discovered. for example, what you said is impossible but not what you think, i talking about being chopped into cubes. a helicopper propellers' shaped would not cut us up into cube so it is impossible however, you could see it as being possible to not get cut into cubes.

if you understand that.

The point is these things are impossible now. So until these things become possible, there are impossibilities.

I think everything can be possible, but at this time we have many impossible things, actually the word 'impossible' isn't a correct word, cuz when things can be possible , you can't call them impossible........ i'm lost......

Try dribbling a football......

Within the realm of time, I do believe nothing is impossible. Eventually things will evolve, be discovered, etc. Things change, and what once was will cease to be, and what was never thought of will be born.
Take the history of communication. Go back 1,000 years and ask someone what they thought about the idea of a cell phone. They'd probably tell you its impossible.
However when speaking about an individual they're are impossiblities, because there is no one person that can do everything, be everything, etc. etc.

If you really want to get philisophical, I would actually have to say this....
Everything and nothing is impossible and possible.

Anything is possible

lol Oh ye of little faith...

I want to credit Robert J. Sawyer for this, but really, I have no idea who really said it:

"Nothing is impossible."
I replied, "Have you ever tried skiing through a revolving door?"

you people are not correct. Time overlaps. Impossiblities are impossible, but impossible is possible for impossibilites are impossible.

Figure it out, it makes perfect sense.

Impossibility in the physical world: True
Impossibility in the mind: Untrue
Combined together: Possibilities...

God had created us in his image, which means a lot of things, but that could also mean that we could think like him if he granted us the knowledge. Remember, we are created out of God's mind, and in the mind nothing is impossible. So, everything comes from a mind. Nothing can be created without a mind, and that is why a tiny ant can exist and still create an anthill.

If I wanted to talk to a friend of mine, without walking sixty miles to get to him/her, how would I do it?
Simple: use a telephone or IM him/her.
Long ago most of us would have thought that impossible, except for our minds had let it happen.

If I wanted to walk through a swirling mass of chains and saws without getting touched or scratched, how would I do it?
Simple: wait for the future to come and a developed mind to create it

Fly to the moon without a rocket or any other form of technology and then i'll believe that anything is possible.


where did you get the idea that anything is possible

english or american football

this goes back to what i said... is it possible to make impossibles possible if you put your mind to it? are impossibles mentally possible?

thats possible

thats impossible

Maybe it's true that nothing is impossible, but by the time we discover all those things the world will end, maybe that's the deal, maybe that is the secret of life

Impossible = to live forever, Possible = to live forever.

To me the words, impossible and possible have the same meaning.
It's just the matter of fate, hope and believing.

maybe its not

I'm confused there is always Maybe this maybe that.........we need some prooooooof!!!!!!

i have been thinking this question over and i have came up with this, hope it makes sense

"there are many impossibles in the world, some we havent even discovered yet and sooner or later all these impossibles will be made possible. however, where there is a possible there is a impossible. for example, "now it is possible to be able to drive a car, which means it is now impossible not to be able to drive a car.

i hope that helps

Like I mentioned earlier, it is logically impossible to prove a negative statement. That's why, for example, the question "Prove to me that God doesn't exist" is a worthless one; someone can always claim God is hiding somewhere that we haven't looked at yet.

In other words, we can't prove anything is completely impossible. However, we can, by looking at our knowledge of physics and biology, and state authoritatively that some things are so unlikely that they are effectively impossible. Like my "in space without a spacesuit" example; the instant you go out the airlock, all the air in your lungs will blow out through your mouth, and you will quickly die of asphyxiation. Unlike popular myth, you will not explode, or instantly freeze, since it will take a long time for the heat on your body to simply radiate off of it.

yes that does look really impossible, but only because of the technology we have today.

100s of years ago some of the simple things today may have looked impoosible.

if thats understandable

There's quite a difference between something being 'impossible' because no one has any idea how to develop a device to do it, and 'impossible' because it goes against all known laws of physics and biology.

so, is everthing mentally possible?

Using imagination?, yes.

If you mean ‘parapsychology’. Like Extra-sensory perception (ESP) also known as anomalous cognition, that includes telepathy, clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairalience, clairgustance, clairsentience, precognition, postcognition, psychometry, and dream transferrance.

Or anomalous operation that includes psychokinesis (in the past referred to as telekinesis), out-of-body experiences, astral projection, near-death experiences, mediumship, and reincarnation.

Then I think, not...

Scientists treat all claims with scientific skepticism. After examining psi claims for over a century, there has been significant difficulty in merging the results of parapsychology studies with other fields of science.

As a result, many in the scientific community think that parapsychology is not a real science, that psi phenomena do not exist, and that parapsychology is a pseudoscience.

Many scientists and skeptical observers of the field believe that some parapsychologists knowingly commit fraud; that some are incompetent; and that some are naive and therefore easily deceived by fraudulent participants; or perhaps some combination of the above.

The magician, James Randi, has offered a prize of one million dollars to anyone who is able to show evidence of any paranormal power or event (under test conditions agreed to by both parties). As of 2005, no successful claims have been made against this money.

Parapsychology

I hope this helps...

impossibles will become possible, but there will always be atleast one thing impossible

Perhaps we should stop classifying things as IMPOSSIBLE. That something is UNLIKELY, might be better...

impossible >adjective, not able to occur, exist, or be done.
unlikely >adjective, not likely; improbable.

IMO

Eh please! Even if it's not going to chop you into "cubes", it will still slice through you more than once.

You would not live through it! Don't forget the fall to the ground afterwards.

Jeez!

when i first posted this i put this in my post!

"Is it true that nothing is impossible just improbable?"

so that just takes us back to the start




try reading everything

^ Wish I'd thought of that one!

no one would be stupid enough to do that, so it is impossible, oh i mean unlikely(sorry milo) for any one to do that.

So NOT everything is possible. If there is always going to be at least one thing that's impossible, you've just answered your own question.




EDIT: I did read everything, but I was talking about the scenario as a WHOLE. Not just the helicopter propeller.

Whether somebody is "stupid enough to try it" or not, you say that EVERY impossibility will become possible. So why is this unlikely?

You didn't have one of your 'smart-arse' answers for that one, did you?!

Whoa182 caught you out?

yes, it took time to think about but that is my conclusion.

everyone is still welcome with their own views.

that was not my answer, milo said to look at impossible as unlikely

Lmao!