Can We Even Imagine Something That Is Completely Impossible?

Being of a higher level of complexity than our inanimate surroundings means that we are capable of conceiving of things that do not exist. This, of course, means that we can be wrong about things because there is not enough potential complexity for everything that we can conceive of to exist. This capacity is very important because to make plans for anything we must conceive of it first, before it exists. 

You can certainly imagine yourself in situations that are not reality. You can probably imagine yourself as a billionaire with mansions in each of your half-dozen favorite cities. For most people that vision is improbable, although not completely impossible. 

Although we are of a higher level of complexity than our inanimate surroundings we still live in those surroundings. We can imagine things that do not exist, and things that are very unlikely, but can we imagine anything that is completely impossible?

We have lived in this reality all of our lives and we have no experience outside of it. We can rearrange the pieces of reality into arrangements that do not presently exist, and sometimes these arrangements are beyond our capability to bring about, but can we imagine something that is completely impossible? 

Scientific discoveries are being made on a regular basis that, in the past, would have been considered as utterly beyond imagination. The same can be said of technology. Fifty years ago these smartphones, and all that they can do, would be practically unimaginable. 

Something being completely impossible is somewhat of an issue of definition, and time is a factor both toward the future and the past. Something that does not seem possible now may be possible with developments in the future. Again what we are discussing is not whether the scenario will come to be or whatever it will be remotely likely, just that it will not be completely impossible.

Then the issue of definition of whether something is completely impossible brings us into the past, and how far back we might want to go. If something is not possible now what if our country, or even the history of human civilization, started over and developed differently? 

What if the supernova that resulted in the sun and Solar System was done over again and turned out differently? The basic laws of physics would be the same but the proportion of elements might be different. Uranium is the heaviest naturally occurring element but that might be different. There might be more water, or less, or none at all.

We can even go back to the Big Bang. What if that had turned out differently? The basic laws of physics and the relationship of matter and space might be different. 

The question again to ponder is, since we have always lived in this reality, are we even capable of imagining or conceiving of something that is completely impossible? Not that it is very unlikely but that it is completely impossible. 

My conclusion is that we are not capable of imagining something that is completely impossible.