The foundational impossibility results of distributed computing -- the Fischer-Lynch-Paterson theorem, the Two Generals Problem, the CAP theorem -- are widely understood as discoveries about the physical limits of coordination. This paper argues that they are nothing of the sort. They are consequences of a category mistake: treating Forward-In-Time-Only (FITO) information flow as a law of nature rather than recognizing it as a design choice inherited from Shannon's channel model and Lamport's happened-before relation. We develop this argument in six steps. First, we introduce the category mistake framework from Ryle through Spekkens' ontic/epistemic distinction in quantum foundations. Second, we identify FITO as the hidden axiom that unifies the classical impossibility results. Third, we apply Spekkens' Leibnizian principle to show that FITO-based models contain surplus ontological structure. Fourth, we develop the counterfactual: what changes when FITO is dropped. Fifth, we demonstrate that the impossibility theorems are theorems about FITO systems, not about physics. Sixth, we sketch the transactional alternative -- bilateral interactions that dissolve the apparent impossibilities by replacing unidirectional message passing with atomic bilateral transactions. The implication is that distributed computing has spent fifty years optimizing within the wrong design space.

翻译：分布式计算的基础不可能性结果——Fischer-Lynch-Paterson定理、两将军问题、CAP定理——被广泛理解为关于协调物理极限的发现。本文论证这些结果并非如此。它们是一个范畴错误的后果：将仅向前时间（FITO）信息流视为自然法则，而非认识到它是继承自香农信道模型和Lamport“先发生”关系的设计选择。我们通过六个步骤展开这一论证。首先，我们引入从赖尔到量子基础中斯佩肯斯本体/认知区分的范畴错误框架。其次，我们指出FITO是统一经典不可能性结果的隐藏公理。第三，我们应用斯佩肯斯的莱布尼茨原理证明基于FITO的模型包含冗余的本体结构。第四，我们构建反事实论证：当放弃FITO时会发生何种变化。第五，我们论证这些不可能性定理是关于FITO系统的定理，而非关于物理学的定理。第六，我们概述交易式替代方案——通过以原子性双边交易取代单向消息传递，消解表面不可能性的双向交互机制。其深层含义在于：分布式计算已在错误的设计空间中优化了五十年。