History Main / AchievementsInIgnorance

* In Jean M. Auel's ''[[EarthsChildren Earth's Children]]'', Ayla learns to shoot two stones in rapid succession with her sling (that is, putting in the second stone right after the first is shot, without stopping the sling), because nobody told her it can't be done.
** Not sure this counts. Ayla's double-stone technique is certainly possible, so she's not breaking the laws of physics. It would have been exceedingly difficult for the Clan to do, because of the way their arms work, and they would have probably told her not to try it as it couldn't be done (except for the whole "kill her because she touched a weapon" thing). But that's not this trope.

* [[OnePiece Monkey D. Luffy]] pretty much lives on this trope. Quite possibly the best example of this is when he dived right into the BigBad [[AGodAmI God]] [[PsychoElectro Eneru's]] ultimate attack: Raigou, [[PersonOfMassDestruction which Eneru was going to use to annihilate the whole of Skypeia]]. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Because Eneru forged a massive golden orb onto his arm]], and Luffy was throwing his punches around him, the golden orb discharged the electrical currents and destablized the ultimate attack, saving all of Skypeia. WordOfGod claims Luffy had no idea exactly what he was doing.

** Not sure this counts. Ayla's double-stone technique is certainly possible, so she's not breaking the laws of physics. It would have been exceedingly difficult for the Clan to do, because of the way their arms work, and they would have probably told her not to try it as it couldn't be done (except for the whole "kill her because she touched a weapon" thing). But that't not this trope.

*** Presumably Leonard simply didn't want workers who would object to every other thing with "That can't be done, so I don't want to waste effort on it" or try to make changes based on their own judgement.

*** That depends on whether omnipotence includes the possibility of doing something that is logically impossible. That, in turn, depends on whehter logic is the actual foundation of reality, or just a clever invention of the human mind. IOW, it depends on whether the universe is governed by logic or not. Plus, it depends on whether something "outside the universe" can exist in any way or not.

** The sourcebook ''The Toon Ace Catalog'' features an entire alien race so monumentally stupid, they can build outlandish architectural wonders and incredible scientific devices [[ItRunsOnNonsensoleum because they're too dumb to realize the things they build should be impossible]]. Visitors to their home planet are strictly controlled, because all it would take is one smart-ass telling the locals "That's impossible!" to [[NiceJobBreakingItHero bring down an entire civilization]].

* ''[[MarriedWithChildren Married... with Children's]]'' Kelly Bundy will do this on occasion. One episode had the family distracting her by giving her a ''[=~Where's Waldo?~=] book. She runs all over town trying to find Waldo and, at the end of the episode, he is sitting next to Kelly at the dinner table.

* [[OnePiece Monkey D. Luffy]] pretty much lives on this trope. Quite possibly the best example of this is when he dived right into the BigBad God Eneru's ultimate attack: Raigou, [[PersonOfMassDestruction which Eneru was going to use to annihilate the whole of Skypeia]]. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Because Eneru forged a massive golden orb onto his arm]], and Luffy was throwing his punches around him, the golden orb discharged the electrical currents and destablized the ultimate attack, saving all of Skypeia. WordOfGod claims Luffy had no idea exactly what he was doing.

It does happen in RealLife, usually with things like math or physics equations, occasionally with feats of daring that the accidental daredevil hasn't been told are life-threatening.

* [[OnePiece Monkey D. Luffy]] pretty much lives on this trope. Quite possibly the best example of this is when he dived right into the BigBad Enel's ultimate attack: Raigou, [[PersonOfMassDestruction which Enel was going to use to annihilate the whole of Skypeia]]. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Because Enel forged a massive golden orb onto his arm]], this turned out to be his undoing as Luffy was throwing his punches around him, as the golden orb discharged the electrical currents and destablized the ultimate attack, saving all of Skypeia. WordOfGod claims Luffy had no idea exactly what he was doing.

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*** Of course, [[spoiler: [[FridgeBrilliancea probability of 0% is not the same as an impossibility...]]]]

** This method was also behind the invention of the Infinite Improbability Drive. By way of explanation, the theory behind the ''Finite'' Improbability Drive was well-understood by that point, and largely consisted of ensuring that probability was twisted ''just'' right to ensure an otherwise improbable result. For example, ensuring that, at parties, every particle in the hostess' undergarments simultaneously quantum-leaped two feet to the left. An underclassman, cleaning up after one of these parties, asked himself what would happen if he worked out how improbable such a drive was, fed the result into the Finite Improbability Drive, gave it a ''really'' hot cup of tea, and turned it on, creating the Infinite Improbability Drive in an instant.

* In ''HitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', the key to flying is to forget that it should be impossible, and [[GravityIsAHarshMistress gravity simply lets go of you]].
** It also can be done by "throwing yourself at the ground and missing", being interrupted mid-fall and forgetting to hit, and then -- and this ''is'' vital -- not thinking very hard about how you should be falling. Otherwise gravity will glance sharply in your direction and demand to know what the hell you think you're doing.
** This method was also behind the invention of the Infinite Improbability Drive.
*** By way of explanation, the theory behind the ''Finite'' Improbability Drive was well-understood by that point, and largely consisted of ensuring that probability was twisted ''just'' right to ensure an otherwise improbable result. For example, ensuring that, at parties, every particle in the hostess' undergarments simultaneously quantum-lept two feet to the left. The ''Infinite'' Improbability Drive was created when an underclassman, cleaning up after one of these parties, asked himself what would happen if he worked out how improbable such a drive was, fed the result into the Finite Improbability Drive, gave it a ''really'' hot cup of tea, and turned it on. The rest is history.

** [[spoiler: Afterwards, he reveals the odds of success were ''0%.'']]

* [[OnePiece Monkey D. Luffy]].

*** ROAD RUNNER TALKED?!?
*** He held up a sign. C'mon man.
**** There is a variation with Elmer and Bugs as children, where Elmer says they didn't study ''gravity'' yet. Bugs slipped him a book...

* [[Collar 6]]: No one told Laura that [[spoiler: she shouldn't be able to reach subspace at her level without physical stimulation]].

* A popular urban legend tells the story of a college math student who oversleeps and arrives late for a major test. Upon arrival he sees three equations on the blackboard and successfully solves all three. Later, his professor informs him the class was only supposed to do the first two and the third was meant as an example of an equation mathematicians since Einstein have been trying to solve without success. Unlike most urban legends, this particular one has some basis in fact, being a (very) embellished telling of an actual event that happened to mathematician George Dantzig. Full details are available at [[http://www.snopes.com/college/homework/unsolvable.asp Snopes.com]]

* This trope is the reason why people who have passed out have a better chance of surviving horrible accidents--the unconscious can't panic and tense up their body in the wrong places.
** Just being really drunk has the same effect.
** [[UsefulNotes/{{Taoism}} They've got a religion built around that.]]
* {{Subversion}}: It's commonly said that scientists say bees can't fly, but the bees don't know that and fly all the same. What scientists actually say is that bees can't fly like airplanes do; the bees may or may not know that, but they don't bother to attempt it in any case, choosing instead to [[ShapedLikeItself fly like bees do]].
** Another version of this story is that some scientist at a social event did a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation about flying bumblebees, and concluded that they couldn't fly like birds. That quick calculation metamorphosed around the world into the claim that science (or scientists) say that the bees can't fly.

** [[Taoism They've got a religion built around that.]]

* Steve Jackson Games' role-playing system ''Game/{{Toon}}'', which takes place in a cartoon universe, gives appropriately cartoony reasons for being able to do this sort of thing. If a character wants to walk off a cliff and on thin air, or breathe underwater or whatever, he can roll to intentionally try to ''fail'' an intelligence roll. If he fails, it's considered that he's too dumb to realize it's impossible. This is of course a reference to all the times cartoon characters do just that. It's actually considered a law of Toon Physics that gravity does not affect a character until they realize it's supposed to. This is demonstrated in an episode of ''TinyToonAdventures''.
** The sourcebook ''The Toon Ace Catalog'' features an entire alien race so monumentally stupid, they can build outlandish architectural wonders and incredible scientific devices [[ItRunsOnNonsensoleum because they're too dumb to realize the things they build should be impossible]]. Visitors to their home planet are strictly controlled, because all it would take is one smart-ass telling the locals "That's impossible!" to bring down an entire civilization.
* In ''[[{{Warhammer40000}} Warhammer 40k]]'' It is explained that ork technology only works because orks aren't bright enough to realize that it should not work. They also believe that red vehicles go faster. In fact [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve they believe it strongly enough for it to be true]].