Well, sometimes you gotta have faith as well. It took Edison 2000 or more tries to get his light bulb to work, he had to keep the faith. Dr. Werner von Braun and Robert Goddard tried many times before they got their rockets to work. I’m sure they all had their detractors. Let me add that it was said in the 1890’s where there was thought to close the pantent office because they thought that “all of the things that needed invented were invented.” I think even Albert Einstein would say that despite his research, still you got to keep an open mind for that discovery that could change what we know, or thought, that was true. WE still have many, many pages to write in this book.
Edison wasn’t the first to make light from electricity. His work with electric lighting was a pure engineering project. He was a brilliant engineer, manager, and businessman, not a scientist.
von Braun and Goddard could never have accomplished anything if the hadn’t understood the physics. In fact it was that understanding of physics that told them that what they were dreaming about was possible.
Bingo.
It has been man's quest since time immemorial to unlock the secrets of the material world, and re-structure it to his needs and liking. The quest for understanding and knowledge of our surroundings is an unbroken chain from prehistoric times, to the present. Of course, it will continue.
The future is a vast and endless possibility. It's not even possible to accurately predict the technological advancements of coming eras. What we can predict, is that they will come, and that they'll astound us.
No one has more faith in the power of the human mind than I do. However, I do not believe that someday we'll overcome the First Law of Thermodynamics if we "just try hard enough." [Nor we will overcome the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the Uncertainty Principle, the Exclusion Principle, ... ]
These are laws of physics, not engineering challenges. The four dimensional space-time we live in has a certain geometry. Trying to overcome that geometry -- which is known in physics as Lorentz Invariance is a waste of time, every bit as much as trying to violate the law of the conservation of energy. The basic laws governing Gauge Bosons [and their classical analogues, like Maxwell's Equations] simply do not work unless the universe is Lorentz Invariant. It's not a matter of being clever or trying hard.