Original artwork, not a still
Profiles of the Future · 1962
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
You only learn where the edge is by going over it. The line makes boldness a method rather than a mood, and it is the explorer's counterpart to the cautious First Law. People quote it for rocket launches, research grants and start-up pitches, wherever someone argues that trying the impossible is the only reliable way to map the possible.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Profiles of the FutureShow the scene
This is Clarke's Second Law, from the essay "Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination" in his 1962 book Profiles of the Future, subtitled An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible. The essay is about why forecasts of technology so often go wrong, and the law is offered as a rule for anyone trying to judge what can be done. It follows the First Law, about distinguished but elderly scientists who call things impossible, and comes before the Third Law about magic, which was added in 1973.
Sources (1)
- Wikiquote: Arthur C. ClarkeClarke's First, Second and Third Law entriesReference checked
Context reviewed
