People keep saying things like this, and it might be true. But on what data are we basing this? Have we tried relaxing an impact measure, given that we have a conceptual core in hand?
What? I’ve never tried to write an algorithm to search an unordered set of numbers in O(log n) time, yet I’m quite certain it can’t be done. It is possible to make a real claim about X without having tried to do X. Granted, all else equal trying to do X will probably make your claims about X more likely to be true (but I can think of cases where this is false as well).
I’m clearly not saying you can never predict things before trying them, I’m saying that I haven’t seen evidence that this particular problem is more or less challenging than dozens of similar-feeling issues I handled while constructing AUP.
What? I’ve never tried to write an algorithm to search an unordered set of numbers in O(log n) time, yet I’m quite certain it can’t be done. It is possible to make a real claim about X without having tried to do X. Granted, all else equal trying to do X will probably make your claims about X more likely to be true (but I can think of cases where this is false as well).
I’m clearly not saying you can never predict things before trying them, I’m saying that I haven’t seen evidence that this particular problem is more or less challenging than dozens of similar-feeling issues I handled while constructing AUP.