If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
Arthur C. Clarke
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This is one of those quotes that sounds profound but doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny. At the very least, it needs some qualifiers. If the distinguished scientist is discussing firmly established stuff, he is probably right. Your young up-and-coming physicists will agree with him that perpetual motion machines aren’t a thing. It is the cutting edge stuff where the olds are likely to be left behind.