# Clarke’s Flashlight You could look at things that eminent scientists have said are impossible and dig into precisely why. [[Clarke’s First Law]] (See [Clarke’s Law](https://www.notion.so/innovate/Clarks-Law-a7f33b38451a473e93481b93471dd34f) Here you are starting with criteria #2 from the fact that [[Leonardo Ideas can be systematically identified]] (*Ideas that do not exist due to specific constraints*) and making a bet that eminent scientists have been lax in keeping up with the constraints that have been relaxed, leading to criteria #3 (*Constraints have been relaxed by new knowledge*) Effectively the scientists become constraint canaries **Practically this involves** * Talking to a lot of eminent scientists and engineers and asking them “what is impossible in your field?” * Identifying which fields are highest value or leverage * Figuring out who the rebels in a field are and what they <!-- #evergreen #mental-model --> [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Clarke’s+Flashlight) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Clarke’s+Flashlight)