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by Daydreamer on May 4th, 2005

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Is it true that nothing is impossible just improbable?

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Answers. 12 helpful answers below.

  • by IntellectualCritic on July 2nd, 2005

    IntellectualCritic

    There are a great many things that are really impossible. Some by definition, others by logic, still others because of the nature of the universe.

    I have heard it said that you can compute a probability that all the molecules of air in a room could move to one side of the room and leave a vacuum on the other side. In the real world, the conditions for this simply can't happen - it is impossible. In order to compute that probability, you have to make assumptions that do not reflect reality.

    In Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide, he refers to an extremely improbable occurance where a sperm whale suddenly materializes in space, high above a planet. This is a comedic work of fiction. I do not believe any statistician or scientist would assign such an occurance any probability but zero. If it happens, it would have to be intentional operation of technology or the supernatural, not random probability.

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  • by Master Instructor on May 10th, 2005

    Master Instructor

    The only way to state that nothing is impossible with any accuracy, or authority, would be if you knew everything. You can't prove the negative of an argument. Simply because you have never seen something does not prove that it does not exist, just that you are not aware of it.

    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.

    Can God go anywhere in the Universe? Can God find his way back from anywhere he goes? If the answer to these are "yes," then the contradiction is that God can not get lost.

    My answer to your question is that contradictions make some specific circumstances impossible. All other things - - we just don't know, but we can presume that everything else is probably possible. This is my philosophy, and it's impossible for me to be wrong - - or is it?

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  • by Marky Mark on January 13th, 2010

    Marky Mark

    Some things are impossible in given conditions . If the conditions change it may (or may not) become possible. It all depends on whether the prevailing conditions allow it or not.

    For example: It is impossible for the water in an open bowl to freeze in an oven heated to 180 degrees Celsius.

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  • by Mister.M on May 4th, 2009

    Mister.M

    ok why are you all talking about science?
    this phrase is just a famous saying that is meant to motivate. by saying that nothing is impossible, just improbable they are saying that you can achieve anything you wish to achieve if you truely wish to. it is just a famous saying that is meant to motivate others into achieving and discovering new things, it is not meant to be taken literally as a scientific calculation. All it is saying is that the things that are called impossible just take longer to achieve. :)

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  • by clayton bateman on February 4th, 2006

    clayton bateman

    No! "nothing is impossible" is flawed. Nothing is the absence of anything and that was the condition of the Void (every mythos to include science agree) before the was all this stuff. So nothing is a possibility. hey there may still be a some nothing out there, but the knowing of it would make it something and therefore it too would end. New real estate of mind if you will. For that matter nothing is provably all around you. It is just the constucts of mind the define it away. So for the contrary context of the question of couse any delusion can manifest anything and thereby rendering the contradiction merely misunerstood.

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  • by Joshua Zambrano on January 30th, 2006

    Joshua Zambrano

    No. We may not know precisely what is impossible but according to the laws of logic, opposing, mutually exclusive statements cannot be true.

    People like to ask whether God could make a box so small He couldn't fit in it or stuff along those lines. But it's like asking whether God can be both perfectly good and perfectly evil.

    Of course not, the two are mutually exclusive. Logic itself would decree that God can do all that's possible according to the laws of logic, meaning He can't do or be things which are mutually exclusive.

    So for nothing to be possible, nothing could ever hold true. For if something holds true and is mutually exclusive, then something opposing it which is mutually exclusive as well cannot be true.

    For example, there must always be at least one absolute to the universe, if only that absolutes don't exist. But of course then absolutes would exist so that is not an option.

    Therefore, absolutes must exist, and the statement that absolutes exist is true. Therefore, the statement that absolutes do not exist is impossible, not merely improbable, and thus, the answer to your question.

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  • by adamjohn on July 14th, 2010

    adamjohn

    How likely is it that I will live forever?

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  • by FooBarBaz on February 12th, 2010

    FooBarBaz

    Share your answer...

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  • by FooBarBaz on February 12th, 2010

    FooBarBaz

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  • by LarryH54 on March 8th, 2010

    LarryH54

    Ask Arthur Dent or Ford Prefect. lol

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  • by sagesiah on July 14th, 2010

    sagesiah

    Yes, theoretically, according to quantum physics. This is a heady subject to get into, but the essential point is this: the value of a scientific model lies in its ability to predict what will happen. And so Newtonian physics is excellent because, when it comes to things that are large in mass, it is very good at predicting what will happen. But in quantum physics (something that is very small), based on the prevailing thoughts (this is always still a work-in-progress*), and based upon non-locality and wave-particle duality (e.g., light acts as a particle when meausured as a particle but as a wave when meausured as a wave, which is offensive to reason), it is indeed theoretically true that nothing is impossible. I don't want to write a book here, or transcribe books here, and I doubt there is even enough space here to completely cover my ass, so to speak, but in essence the improbable courses of action for a particle tend to cancel eachother out and the extremely likely course of action will generally be undertaken by the particle. But in theory and in practice a particle can pretty much be as anarchic as it wants, and, in theory, since everything is made up of many particles, something as absurd as a basketball going through a wall is possible. In theory. A better way to answer your questions is: No, nothing is impossible. But it is highly, incredibly, mathematically improbable. But not impossible.

    *Quantum physics and Newtonian physics get along fine as long as something is big and has a LARGE MASS, or TINY and has a small mass. When something is both TINY and has a LARGE MASS (for instance, a black hole), neither theory can provide good answers.

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  • by Bruce Barron on August 21st, 2010

    Bruce Barron

    This is the same as asking or stating that everything is possible but not probable or highly improbable.
    Not everything is possible.We talk in terms of what is the likelihood of something that is possible happening.
    A stone sitting on the earth's surface will never become a diamond.
    The Oceans will never become mountains of gold.
    Water will never possess the properties of sulfuric acid.
    God cannot sin or contradict Himself.
    The list of impossibilities can go on and on.There is no probability here.

    We speak instead of what is the probability of something occuring that is possible.
    What is the probability of Siamese twins?

    We can also ask what is the possibility of something probable happening.Something that has real probability has the possibility of happening.

    Can one speak of the probibility of probility.Well if something is known to be probable then one can speak of its probability of happening.

    To quote:Nothing is impossible,just improbable.If everything were possible then it is possible to be, and not improbable although the conditions necessary for its possibility may never arise.

    One must state the possibilities to see whether or not they are impossible or possible and probable.After all it does come down to if something is a possibility what is the probability of its occurence?

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