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From: christo@psych.toronto.edu (Christopher Green)
Subject: Re: Scientific Impossibilities (was Conscious Robots NOT!)
Message-ID: <Cxy2EC.35J@psych.toronto.edu>
Organization: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
References: <38122o$e3m@crl8.crl.com> <mreddy-191094082050@mreddy.comp.glam.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 23:54:11 GMT
Lines: 20

>In article <38122o$e3m@crl8.crl.com>, azi@crl.com (Bill Pappas) wrote:
>
>> Does anyone know of a single example of a successful impossibility
>> forecast in science or technology?
>
Of course, any apparently successful impossibility claim might turn out
to be false tomorrow.  This is just the logical problem of proving a
negative instance.  However, there is the famous (so I thought) case
of the proof that an atomic-powered airplane is impossible. It was
convincing enough to stop the American project to construct such a 
plane and, as far as I know, stop anyone else from attempting to in any sort of
serious way.  (As I recall, the proof turns on the fact that the weight
of an atomic engine will require wings so large as to be unliftable by
said engine, and so on).

-- 
Christopher D. Green                christo@psych.toronto.edu
Department of Psychology            cgreen@vm1.yorku.ca
York University 
North York, Ontario M3J 1P3
