Is anything possible?

[Libre]

I mean it...ANYTHING?
I hear is said all the time, that's right, they say, "well, anything's possible!". Well they're stupid - or at least, they are not critical thinkers, such as, well, yours truly.
ANYTHING'S POSSIBLE!
Humbug.
It's a truism, that can easily be proved false. But to disagree with this tripe, you are immediatly labled a terminal pessimist. A negative thinker, a brooder, a loner, not a team player, a loser, probably a geek with no girlfriend. Yes, I have been all these things (happily married now though). Yet, I still disagree with the premise that everything is possible. I'll go so far as to say that relatively few things are possible - only what actually exisits is possible. Everything else, even if theoretically possible, but not actually existing, is impossible. Add to that set, the infinite numbers of things that can be conceived that will NEVER be REMOTELY possible, at least in the time/space continuum we call the here and now, well you see what I'm getting at.
A few examples:
I could start with a very soft example: It's impossible for George Bush to tell the truth. IT's soft, because even though he's never been known to actually do so, it's at least theoretically possible for him to tell the thruth.
So here are a few really tough examples.
You, who say "anything's possible", refute that these are impossible:
To unscramble an egg;
To undo anything at all;
To teach a cockroach to play chess;
To change the past;
To play a full round of golf without a handicap and score less than 18;
To checkmate an opponent with only 2 kings on the board, yours and his;
To be in 2 places at the same time - or to be noplace at all (to borrow a concept from Firesign Theatre);
To honestly answer "No" to the question, "Can you hear me?" or "Do you exist?"
Well?

 

[Ell]

I take the phrase "anything's possible" to be a figure of speech rather than a truism. i.e. Language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense to make a point rather than to state a fact.

 

[Justin91]

Libre,

This thread should be in the writers showcase!

I agree that this is a figure of speech and not a truism. Maybe said as a glimmer of hope in a seemingly terrible situation. It could be an answer to the continuous list of questions from a child when you get tired of giving exact answers, while not discouraging them from being openly curious. It is a rallying chant given by the losing team! Of course this is debatable; anything is.

I really like your “anything is possible” examples!

 

[Peronel]

If you asked a string theorist, they may tell you that anything is possible, just not in this dimension.

But I agree, I don't like it when disillusioned people use it to justify making outrageous claims.

 

[Wintergreen]

You, who say "anything's possible", refute that these are impossible:

I doubt anything is possible, but your examples aren't very good:

To unscramble an egg;

Not impossible, just statistically very unlikely

To undo anything at all;

Control+Z usually works

To teach a cockroach to play chess;

A bit of genetic engineering and it'll be a snap

To change the past;

Become a revisionist historian

To play a full round of golf without a handicap and score less than 18;

I'll build a course with a complex underground system of ducts linking each hole.

To checkmate an opponent with only 2 kings on the board, yours and his;

I'll leave this one for my chess-playing cockroach to solve.

To be in 2 places at the same time - or to be noplace at all (to borrow a concept from Firesign Theatre);

This is easy if you happen to be a subatomic particle.

To honestly answer "No" to the question, "Can you hear me?" or "Do you exist?"

I certainly can't hear you, and my mutant cockroach has just eaten me, so I no longer exist.