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About this quote

What does it mean?
Thomson asserted that powered flight was fundamentally impossible based on the science of his time.
In plain terms
He believed humans could never build machines that fly.
What can you take from it?
Even experts can be wrong about what is possible.

Where it applies

  • forecasting tech
  • expert testimony
  • historical review

Putting it to work

  • challenging assumptions
  • re-evaluating limits
  • future planning

Questions to consider

  • What do experts say is impossible today?
  • How do you test limits?

Another view

This statement was famously proven wrong by the Wright brothers soon after.

More from William Thomson

  1. Quaternions came from Hamilton after his really good work had been done, and though beautifully ingenious, have been an unmixed evil to those who have touched …

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  2. Symmetrical equations are good in their place, but 'vector' is a useless survival, or offshoot from quaternions, and has never been of the slightest use to any…

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  3. There cannot be a greater mistake than that of looking superciliously upon the practical applications of science. The life and soul of science is its practical…

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