Is human nature designed to prevent us from progressing beyond our capabilities?

Could not have said that better myself. Reminds me of a John Lennon quote. "How can we live in a World where we have to hide to make love while violence is practised in broad daylight".

i agree on the speed bumps. there are many things that we see in movies that no matter how much we wish it just is physically impossible. take for example time travel. Newton said if you could move faster than light, then you were beating time. however the more you think about it you realize he was right to a degree. You may be moving faster than light, and beating how we measure time, but that's just it. how we measure and perceive time. Going faster than light doesn't make you pass through time, it just means that you are moving faster than that unit of measurement.

i truly think that the universe has limits. people always think as time moves forward, technology will always advance, yet look at the first civilizations. The Indus River Valley Civilization new how to build shower heads so you could poor water and get a proper shower. they also invented toilets and had running water from rivers as plumbing. Earthquakes and other natural disasters drive them away or kill them and plumbing and all that is not seen again for another 1000 years when the Romans re-invent it.

I don't know if I would say divine intervention, but maybe just allowing free will to take its toll. People are always going to have different characteristics and the way that they play out with the characteristics of others, and that comparison is sometimes what we see as our limits sometimes. That's just in my opinion though.

Humans are the only species smart enough to recognize their irrational instincts influence their actions or thoughts but still stupid enough to allow themselves to be influenced.

I don't know. I guess that the only "stops" would be the ones that each person chooses to impose on themselves, or of course, death. That's a very insightful question though.

I think many times politicians progress beyond their capabilities. Reality TV celebrities, actors, even students and teachers can rise above their capabilities all riding a crest of popularity that ultimately breaks. Sometimes, luck or a twisted circumstance can over-extend our capabilities and by believing the hype we move ahead. My point is, are there natural "stops" that ultimately cause the crest to break?

I'm pretty sure no one has ever progressed beyond their capabilities.

Yeah, but why, Thesdamos? In your example, are we precluded from time traveling due to a built-in limitation we have been given? Or, is it truly an impossible physical act as Einstein insisted. Or, could that law be broken somehow if we put our collective human energies on that singular purpose?

@AwakeningConfession... The John Lennon quote says it all.