On HN, comments meant to stimulate optimism and willpower don't tend to get encouraged. Cynicism, skepticism, figuring out how things will fail -- as they inevitably will, of course -- or how if they succeed, they're corrupt or broken in some way...that is increasingly the coin of the realm here. :)

In reality, your sentiment is correct. Sure, there are laws of physics. But they are also unknown, as the ones humans understand don't describe all observed phenomena by a long shot. There are still restrictions even so, but incredible unknowns await us. As they always have.

What engineering-minded folks frequently don't understand is the need to apply sheer old willpower, after using all that intellect. Ending with a positive, with the notion that it can be done; we just have to figure out how.