I wanted to share with you guys a conclusion I came to on the statement "anything is possible". I believe that statement is true in some way shape or form anything is possible. What I mean by "in some way shape or form anything is possible" is that in a certain form like verbally through poems, rap, rock, story's, etc
you can create anything in that realm in that form.
Another example is through literature
Books, screenplays, graffiti etc, in that form we are the creators and we control that dimension of reality. Visually we are the creators through movies, art, games etc anything is possible. Last but not least physically we don't know everything that's out there in this universe or what the future has in store for what's possible but I would say that there are physical possibilities that cannot exist in the other ways I explained.
This statement "anything is possible" is only accurate if you combine all forms, realm, dimension of possibilities in some way I can give you a example of how anything can exist. This statement of anything is possible does not rule out impossibility you can use micro examples if you only use one way for something to be possible like physical and you restrict the use of verbal, visual, or literature you can say something impossible. I believe if you combine all the forms, realms, dimensions, etc it proves that in some way anything is possible. If you find any flaws in my logic please share.
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I agree for the most part. The brain is capable of "make believe." So not bound by rules, any thought is possible in our heads, and is only bound by the limitation if our imagination, and really our collective imagination due to our ability to communicate at a fairly high level with one another.
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Exactly our brains are capable of "make believe" that has ability to infiltrate into extreme physical effects. Examples of this would be religion, music, cinema, I believe they have real effects. I believe superman is real in a certain form and has real effects on reality through cinema, video games. It come down to a person definition of "real" I believe time and love is just as real as and arm or leg.
Zero, a wonderful idea for an OP.
Yes, anything is possible. We have wonderful imaginations that can MacGyver anything.
At the same time, we have wonderful imaginations that can delude us into believing anything. NIghtmares, hallucinations, paranoia, etc.
Thankfully, we have new generations coming up that create new solutions to old problems, and bust open our minds, hopefully, to make our beloved planet a better place. I'm depending on them.
Hey there, Zero. Pretty cool concept. Never looked at it like that before. And since we are on the subject, here's something else to plug into your system. Consider the Virtual Reality technology we have today. And even that is advancing at an exponential rate. Ever read the book "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline? (It was recently made into a movie.) An absolutely entertaining story, and we really are not too far from the technology portrayed in it. Like Logic said, at that point we are bound only by our imagination. *chuckle*
By the way, nice profile pic. Looks like you have all your chakras in alignment. Excellent.
Hey Tin-Man,
I'm glad you like my profile pic I try to align my energy every day and your absolutely right adding the concept of virtual reality into the equation. I have seen ready player one and enjoyed it greatly, I do believe we are a couple of decades away from virtual reality aka the simulation.
Once we get there we will have the ability to experience anything that the mind can think indistinguishable from reality. I think once we create the simulation successfully gives us a high probability of already being in a simulation based on us having the ability to replicate such a tool.
@Zero Re: "Ready Player One"
Hey, if you liked the movie, you really should read the book. I read the book many months before the movie ever came out, and I got very excited when I heard about the movie. Amazingly, I actually enjoyed the movie immensely, despite the fact it had to stray a long way from much of the book in order to put the story in movie form. The movie is very entertaining, and it does do a fairly good job of depicting the VR world of the book. Still, as is usual with the book, you gain much more insight into the society and all the "behind the scenes" thoughts and feelings of the characters.
Side note: Guessing you do a bit of yoga and meditation? My wife is a certified yoga instructor. Matter of fact, that is how she and I met. I was one of her students. lol She does not really teach too much anymore due to her work schedule, but we still practice from time to time.
Magnificent Beast-
I agree but if you think about it alot of the tools we use past, present, and future start in the mind and manifest into a physical thing. Alot of times our imagination can bring something logical into existence, that at some point can be deemed as just "make believe".
@ ZERO
Also read Neuromancer by William Gibson. He invented the term "cyberspace."
rmfr
@Arakish Re: Neuromancer
Well, you piqued my curiosity. Gonna have to go find that one now.
@ Tin-Man
It is actually the first book of the Sprawl Trilogy.
And a side note, the Wachowski Brothers relied heavily on that trilogy for their Matrix Trilogy.
rmfr
Generally, our understanding of what is possible is based on what we believe the laws of nature to be.
In fiction, what is possible is determined by the laws we define.
NO! Anything is not possible. By definition some things can not exit. Draw me a round square. By definition some things are impossible. This is basically fundamental to the laws of logic. I am not God.
The law of identity: P is P.
The law of noncontradiction: P is not non-P.
The law of the excluded middle: Either P or non-P. There is no middle ground. (This is akin to people calling themselves "Agnostic" when you ask them if they believe a god exists. You either believe a god exists or you do not believe a god exists. NOTICE: not believing a god exists is not the same thing as believing a god does not exist. (THERE IS NO MIDDLE). A single proposition is being addressed. Do you believe a god exists? Yes or No. "Do you believe God does not exist?" is an entirely separate proposition. Yes, I think god does not exist. No, I do not think god does not exist. There is only a Yes or No response.
https://arcapologetics.org/objections/three-laws-logic/
Things are what they are and they can not be things that they are not. It matters not what your imagination creates, that creation is that creation and it is impossible for it to be anything else. So "everything or anything" is not possible.
In my original statement I stated that if you limit the ways of something to be possible then you can get impossibility. My statement is only supremely accurate when you don't restrict the forms, realms,reality, dimensions etc. For anything to be possible there has to be impossibility as well.
So you ask me to draw a round square, I'm sure an artist could very well draw some type of metaphorical representation of a round square, or it could be possible in a video game form, or even the form of a poem. you will get impossibility if you limit the form you will get possibility if you open all forms, realms, dimensions, reality.
If the forms are not restricted (as you assert) a piece of sand on the beach is everything. There are no limits to anything. You cannot have it both ways. Things are what they are or things are anything / everything. Things are everything makes no sense at all. You and I are the same. I don't have to eat food because I am food, water, sunlight and everything else I need for existence. The laws of logic remain. Things are what they are. Things are not things they are not. There is no middle ground.
No an artist can not draw a round square. It is either ROUND or SQUARE by definition. If he draws anything else it is not a SQUARE OR ROUND.
a ROUNDED RECTANGLE is called a "stadium." A rounded square is actually called a "squircle."
As soon as you deviate from the shape you have created something else, something new that is not the original.
Sorry but your assertion "Everything is possible" just fails. Why not just admit it and move on. This has been demonstrated to you by several posts. You are defending the indefensible. It really makes no sense to continue the discussion.
@Cog Re: Square circles
Hey, Cog, look what I've got! Made it myself!
(Sorry. Simply couldn't resist... *mischievous snicker*...)
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Cognostic
What you just explained is a misrepresentation of my original statement. I said in "some ways anything is possible" that does no negate that some things are impossible so I said in my original statement that of course you can find micro examples of things that are impossible.
My argument is not incompatible with impossibility, you can say something is impossible in the physical form and that be true and it be possible in the visual form, something in the visual form might impossible but possible in the verbal form.
You just said no artist can draw a rounded square, then you say a rounded square is a squircle therefore if you draw squircle that would very well be rounded square based on your own logic. If I draw a stadium that would be a rounded rectangle something you deemed as impossible. Your example debunked your own logic!
"For anything to be possible there has to be impossibility"
Kaboom, my head just exploded.
"metaphorical representation of a round square"
Kaboom.....
" you will get impossibility if you limit the form you will get possibility if you open all forms, realms, dimensions, reality."
Kaboom, Kaboom, Kaboom, Kaboom, Kaboom.......
My head hurts....that's a metaphor btw, before I get another lecture.
It's poorly worded perhaps, by usongvthe word anything. It's demonstrably false to say anything is possible. As we know of things that all the evidence suggests are impossible. We also don't, or even can't know whether some things are possible.
Adding the caveat "in some way" makes the claim redundant to me. That to me is the same way as saying some things are possible, but some are not. Which doesn't tell us much really.
I'm not sure whether the human imagination has limits, but if it does I think it is demonstrable that we have not reached them yet.
The fact we can imagine something is not the same as saying it is possible. Perhaps I've misunderstood what you mean.
I would say "some things are possible" is different from "in some way anything is possible". They are making different statements one has a limit on what is possible the other does not.
This reminds me of the insanity (in some ways) of someone deciding that common (incorrect) usage of the word literal justified the dictionary definition being amended so it could also be used in a metaphorical sense. I was literally exploding with rage.
""in some way anything is possible""
Would this be an irrational way? I'd be ok with that. Or a delusional way, I would have no objection to that claim. In a purely imaginary or hypothetical way, anything is possible, yes that seems ok as well. Whacked out of my skull on cocaine I believed anything was possible, again this doesn't raise any obvious problems, well other than the use of a class A recreational drug perhaps.
My biggest problem here is the definition of anything seems to contradict the claim that "in **some way** anything is possible".
pronoun
used to refer to a thing, ****no matter what.****
Is it me?
"My biggest problem here is the definition of anything seems to contradict the claim that "in **some way** anything is possible"
@Sheldon so I would say this is the case because the definition of anything is talking specifically on the physical realm. It's not adding the attributes of the metaphysical dimension something that is not tangible. therefore in my original statement I say it's only accurate when you combine the all the realms, dimensions, reality such as visually, sonically, and physically and there is nothing outside of those realms combined that is impossible to exist.
And the second one is literally a silly statement. "Anything is not possible." "Some things are certainly possible." You can not, not, have limits on what is possible. If there were no limits you would have nothing to make possible. Everything would be everything.
My original statement I said "IN SOME WAY" anything is possible can't leave the key point out of the equation. I went into detail to what I mean by in some way, what makes this supremely accurate based on my definition which is my opinion as is yours but in my logic if you combined all forms all things are possible. It is unequivocally clear in the way I explained weather you agree with me or not that I'm right in my logic.
If you disagree the other forms of reality aren't credible sources of something being possible fair enough that's subjective. Based on the fact that I do inside of my logic my conclusion is firmly supreme.
I would agree that our brains have the capability to make anything we imagine into some sort of plausible phenomena.
If we are discussing this however as in anything is possible in the natural world, I.e without considering X from the viewpoint of a human... then I'm not so sure.
It would depend on your interpretation of reality is, for example a multiverse ideal.
Personally I think the cosmos we inhabit is all there is, so id lean on the side of all things being possible as, unlikely.
But who knows.
@Randomhero1982: "I would agree that our brains have the capability to make anything we imagine into some sort of plausible phenomena."
No, they do not. This is a violation of the laws of logic. You can not imagine a square circle. By definition things are what they are and they are not other things. You are not me whether you imagine you are or not.
That is what I was saying, you literally cannot imagine a squared circle, so it does not relate.
Our imagination is limitless, but reality has constraints. And we must always know the difference, or else we slip into a fantasy world believing we can "do anything". I do this on a daily basis. I am an avid sim racer, but when it comes to the real world, I keep my feet firmly planted on the ground and always know my limitations. When away from my computer and sim racing, my mind actually switches modes, and I make every decision carefully and with the understanding it impacts my real world.
In literature or on the screen, science fiction or fantasy books/movies are absolutely wonderful. They open up a limitless world, and allow us to ponder and experience those worlds. Seminal movies, TV shows, and books have shown what MAY be possible,and we strive to attain that goal. The works of Jules Verne, Star Trek, and 2001, A Space Odyssey foretold the future because we realized such things were possible.
But you can not imagine something into being, you can not do impossible things just because you imagine it. The laws of physics are always there as boundaries.
So how do you feel about Disney? This was something created in someone's imagination that has such and impacted on reality which cannot be denied. The company is worth 160 billion dollars, owns multiple networks ABC, espn, Disney, Marvel, etc. They also have a physical parks where you see and feel the created worlds and the characters through costumes and activities.
I look at it like this, Shakespeare plays or beethoven symphonies, or the game tetris is no "realer " than an arm, leg, or tree there all equally important. The level of impact can vary, something non physical can have a higher impact on reality than something physical so there all important forms of possibility.
Disney uses imagination to create films. They use those films to convert it into money via theme parks and merchandise.
Imagination is a product of the brain's activity. Money is a product of the imagination. They are very distinct and separate.
When did imagination begin to count. I can imagine all sorts of crap. That does not make any of it possible. And many things are still impossible to imagine. You can not imagine a Square Circle. The definition of a square and of a circle are clear. You change them and you have something else.
I don't care how hard you imagine you can fly with no wings. You step off a 10 story building and you are going to head straight for the ground.
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