One thing I take for granted working in software: very short prototyping times.

In the world of bits, you can go from a rough idea to a rough prototype often in just a few hours.

This makes it much easier to explore, find compelling ideas, and experiment.

In the world of atoms (e.g. hardware), it can take many, many, many orders of magnitude longer between having the idea to determining whether it's actually promising.

The longer between the decision to invest and determining whether it worked, the more like roulette it is.