Nothing Is Impossible (If You Know How to Start): On First Steps and False Barriers

When someone tells you something is impossible, they usually mean, “I can’t see how to do it.” The first person, specifically. 

And yes, this might seem like a pedantic distinction, but it goes to something foundational about how we think through difficult problems.

Remember the classic “proof” that bumblebees can’t fly? In the 1930s, French entomologist Antoine Magnan used the aerodynamic equations of the time to demonstrate that bumblebee flight was impossible. The equations were correct. The conclusion was wrong. The problem wasn’t with the bees — it was with our understanding of how they flew.

This pattern repeats, as patterns are want to do. 

“Heavier than air flight is impossible” (1900s). “We will never break the sound barrier” (1940s). “No one will ever need more than 637KB of memory” (1980s). Each of these statements was made by experts, using the best available knowledge of their time. 

Each was eventually wrong.