theoretical knowledge frequently fails to capture the engineering possibilities of exploiting a phenomenon. example: we understand all of the relevant theories

theoretical knowledge frequently fails to capture the engineering possibilities of exploiting a phenomenon. example: we understand all of the relevant theories to explain how an ant can carry something that is many times heavier than itself. but would we have thought to use those theories in the way that the ant's body does if we had never seen it nor had a concrete need to produce a similar result for ourselves using technology? clearly not. even after the fact, knowledge of the way the ant performs its feats does not let us replicate it easily. engineering is not something to dismiss with a hand wave, it's the meat. put differently: our imagination for the upper bounds of technology is with certainty nowhere near the actual upper boundary because we are always thinking too narrowly when we consider the application of the laws of the universe, even when we know the laws deeply. that doesn't mean FTL is possible. it means we might might create a way to make the problem of a speed limit irrelevant using what we already know.