If what you're doing seems impossible: in 1903 NYT said planes are impossible

#1

Post by adinhitlore » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 2:42 PM UTC

To be precise in 1903 they predicted it will take one million years in the best possible case (sarcasm i guess) for humans to build useful heavier-than-air craft. Well it took 70 days. The very same year the Wright brothers arrived or rather "left"...upwards with their airplane:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Flyer

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1ocua1b/in_1903_the_nyt_published_an_editorial_declaring/

Re: If what you're doing seems impossible: in 1903 NYT said planes are impossible

#2

Post by adinhitlore » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 2:45 PM UTC

This is also an interesting case against LLMs/chatbots. If it was 1903 chatbots would've repeated the same that airplanes are impossible or that time is constant, there is no attraction between diamagnetic materials (casimir effect) or anything experimentally proven later. I'm not saying one should pursue claims that may always remain pseudoscience such as magnet motors but it helps to always doubt common academic consensus at the time and rather: experiment.

Re: If what you're doing seems impossible: in 1903 NYT said planes are impossible

#3

Post by Cider9986 » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 3:32 PM UTC

In 2026 NYT published a news article claiming to identify Satoshi.

Re: If what you're doing seems impossible: in 1903 NYT said planes are impossible

#4

Post by andyjohnson0 » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 9:01 PM UTC

This might be better posted on LinkedIn. HN isn't your blog.