The physics of space travel are harsh, and the distances involved even harsher. Plus, unless you want to go screaming by on a fly-by mission, you have to burn all that delta-V you generated to get there in order to slow down again.
The only real solution will be some kind of essentially magical faster than light technology - never say never, but it doesn't seem likely without some staggering breakthroughs in areas of physics we don't even have an inkling about.
Maybe it's the American exceptionalism and internalization of Manifest Destiny as the natural order of things, but the idea of being effectively stuck, as a species, on this one rock for eternity is pretty depressing. Especially if that is the fate, not just of ourselves, but of all life intelligent enough to look up at the stars and imagine walking among them. If the best we can hope for is a Motey-like[1] Malthusian cycle, it's not much to look forward to.
The only real solution will be some kind of essentially magical faster than light technology - never say never, but it doesn't seem likely without some staggering breakthroughs in areas of physics we don't even have an inkling about.
Maybe it's the American exceptionalism and internalization of Manifest Destiny as the natural order of things, but the idea of being effectively stuck, as a species, on this one rock for eternity is pretty depressing. Especially if that is the fate, not just of ourselves, but of all life intelligent enough to look up at the stars and imagine walking among them. If the best we can hope for is a Motey-like[1] Malthusian cycle, it's not much to look forward to.
[1]http://amzn.to/2b5I0Ea