Regarding Altman’s quote: “As we have learned, scientific advancement eventually happens if the laws of physics do not prevent it.” The article author says: “H

Regarding Altman’s quote: “As we have learned, scientific advancement eventually happens if the laws of physics do not prevent it.” The article author says: “Have we learned that? I see no evidence to suggest that anything that can be invented necessarily will be invented.” I have not heard this ‘everything that can be invented will be invented’ formulation before but I might agree with the author’s skepticism of this particular point on other grounds. If we know from 20th century math that not every true mathematical truth can be proven, and we know from Turing that we can’t even know whether a given algorithm will halt or not, I would be skeptical that every invention that could be invented will be invented. I do think there is something here for technical utopians here to consider about their premises. Is this a narrow limitation though or a deep one, I am not sure.