What is possible? On the edges of potential and integrity of ambition

The essay argues that possibility is limited by physics, by available knowledge, and by the sincerity of one's desire, and that sincere ambition is valuable for others and the world. It cites physicist David Deutsch's heuristic that "all fiction that does not violate the laws of physics is fact" and notes that the Manhattan Project took three years to build an atomic bomb because its physicists had to combine existing knowledge. It also argues that desire borrowed from others, or mimetic desire, fails under challenge, while ambition grounded in one's genuine self persists. The author holds that the opposite of ambition is pettiness rather than humility.