space the final frontier imagine for a
moment that I am Captain jean-luc Picard
commanding the enterprise in Star Trek
The Next Generation there is a situation
on the enterprise an alien planet is
threatening the safety of my crew the
alien defenses on my scanner appear to
be impenetrable my chief operations
officer insists that their shields
cannot be disabled
he says it’s impossible I say things are
only impossible until they are not now I
know what you’re thinking this quotes on
your grandma’s pillow or inside of a
fortune cookie there are so many of
these quotes decorating the walls of
your local gym resting on your boss’s
desk or sitting inside of our classrooms
that most of us get annoyed by them but
where would we truly be without them
I’ll tell you where know where it is
13.7 billion years ago and there are no
fortune cookies there are no pillows at
Grandma’s house in fact there are no
grandmas there are only two voids in
space hey man this is cool being boys
and all but it’s pretty boring I hear
you bro but there’s nothing to do
there’s nothing here exactly let’s make
something huge gigantic galactic
intergalactic super mega ultra galactic
dude that’s impossible and you’re
probably right
now this is what could have happened but
what if they agreed what if they had a
quote to help them along the way hey man
this is cool being Boyd’s and all but
it’s pretty boring I hear you bro but
there’s nothing to do there is nothing
here exactly let’s make something huge
gigantic galactic intergalactic super
mega ultra galactic dude that’s
impossible
ah but things are only impossible until
they are not hey maybe you’re right
but if we do this it might be really
loud and make a really big bang I’m sure
despite 13.7 billion years of the
unlikely turning to reality the
impossible is still a cage that we
confine ourselves to too often we employ
the word impossible as an answer to
difficult questions
impossible allows us to diminish that
which challenges us the most ironically
impossible becomes the most convenient
practical and possible answer this trap
is so real that we had to create a word
for it ever hear the word neophobia
neither a tie neophobia
is the fear of something new in many
ways it is the fear of the impossible
becoming possible scientists recently
conducted a social experiment showcasing
neophobia they asked one group of people
to solve a problem telling them that I
hadn’t never been solved before what
happened they couldn’t solve the problem
the scientists then asked a second group
of people to solve the exact same
problem except this time they were told
that many other groups had found the
solution what happened they solved the
problem the scientists realized that
merely suggesting that something may be
impossible is enough to stop people from
succeeding if told the opposite they
unlocked their creativity determination
and will do their very best to work out
whatever problem is presented so how do
we overcome neo phobic thought how do we
overcome the paralysis of collective
group thinking by the risk-taking
actions of the individual the first fish
to explore land or maybe the first
primate to use a tool recently we
celebrate the life of Stephen Hawking
controversial creative a disrupter of
conventional thought impossible was
never
in his studies in his vocabulary or in
his life so we were back on the bridge
of the enterprise and Picard is telling
us that everything is impossible until
it is not he is searching for a
disrupter someone like Stephen Hawking
someone to find a solution where there
appears to be none isn’t this notion
more than some nerdy Trekkie lore I
suggest Stephen Hawking would have
applauded Picard’s message perhaps he
would have even had it needlepointed on
a pillow inside of his office thank you live long and prosper
moment that I am Captain jean-luc Picard
commanding the enterprise in Star Trek
The Next Generation there is a situation
on the enterprise an alien planet is
threatening the safety of my crew the
alien defenses on my scanner appear to
be impenetrable my chief operations
officer insists that their shields
cannot be disabled
he says it’s impossible I say things are
only impossible until they are not now I
know what you’re thinking this quotes on
your grandma’s pillow or inside of a
fortune cookie there are so many of
these quotes decorating the walls of
your local gym resting on your boss’s
desk or sitting inside of our classrooms
that most of us get annoyed by them but
where would we truly be without them
I’ll tell you where know where it is
13.7 billion years ago and there are no
fortune cookies there are no pillows at
Grandma’s house in fact there are no
grandmas there are only two voids in
space hey man this is cool being boys
and all but it’s pretty boring I hear
you bro but there’s nothing to do
there’s nothing here exactly let’s make
something huge gigantic galactic
intergalactic super mega ultra galactic
dude that’s impossible and you’re
probably right
now this is what could have happened but
what if they agreed what if they had a
quote to help them along the way hey man
this is cool being Boyd’s and all but
it’s pretty boring I hear you bro but
there’s nothing to do there is nothing
here exactly let’s make something huge
gigantic galactic intergalactic super
mega ultra galactic dude that’s
impossible
ah but things are only impossible until
they are not hey maybe you’re right
but if we do this it might be really
loud and make a really big bang I’m sure
despite 13.7 billion years of the
unlikely turning to reality the
impossible is still a cage that we
confine ourselves to too often we employ
the word impossible as an answer to
difficult questions
impossible allows us to diminish that
which challenges us the most ironically
impossible becomes the most convenient
practical and possible answer this trap
is so real that we had to create a word
for it ever hear the word neophobia
neither a tie neophobia
is the fear of something new in many
ways it is the fear of the impossible
becoming possible scientists recently
conducted a social experiment showcasing
neophobia they asked one group of people
to solve a problem telling them that I
hadn’t never been solved before what
happened they couldn’t solve the problem
the scientists then asked a second group
of people to solve the exact same
problem except this time they were told
that many other groups had found the
solution what happened they solved the
problem the scientists realized that
merely suggesting that something may be
impossible is enough to stop people from
succeeding if told the opposite they
unlocked their creativity determination
and will do their very best to work out
whatever problem is presented so how do
we overcome neo phobic thought how do we
overcome the paralysis of collective
group thinking by the risk-taking
actions of the individual the first fish
to explore land or maybe the first
primate to use a tool recently we
celebrate the life of Stephen Hawking
controversial creative a disrupter of
conventional thought impossible was
never
in his studies in his vocabulary or in
his life so we were back on the bridge
of the enterprise and Picard is telling
us that everything is impossible until
it is not he is searching for a
disrupter someone like Stephen Hawking
someone to find a solution where there
appears to be none isn’t this notion
more than some nerdy Trekkie lore I
suggest Stephen Hawking would have
applauded Picard’s message perhaps he
would have even had it needlepointed on
a pillow inside of his office thank you live long and prosper
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