Space Travel

I really don't think the human race will ever travel to the stars.  Why?  Because the investment just isn't worth it.  Unless we figure out how to travel at a speed thousands of times faster than the speed of light or learn how to bend space, anyone who invests in space travel is just throwing their money away.  It would be wiser to invest in Facebook stock.

Look at it this way.  If we build a space craft that can at least travel at the speed of light, it would take eight and a half years to travel to the nearest star and back.  And what would be gained by that?  Absolutely nothing.  There is nothing near Alpha Centauri A that would be worth investing billions of dollars to send someone there.  Sure, you would be able to say that you sent humans to the stars, but you wouldn't receive anything from your investment.  Some good press?  Yeah, but is that worth the money you sunk into the project?  Nope.

What about the other nearby stars?  Maybe they have something worth the investment?  They might, but let's say the closest star with profitable resources is 40 light years away.  That means it would be an 80 year round trip plus the time it would take to gather said resources.  So, by the time that the space craft gets back to Earth, everyone that spent money on the expedition would be dead as would be the crew who flew there.  In other words, this project would never even make it past the initial investment meeting.

And what happens if the space craft is damaged?  Communication from those distances isn't feasible.  The good news is that radio waves travel at the speed of light.  The bad news is that if the space craft sent out a mayday, it would take years just for someone who could help to hear it.  And even if they do hear it, that would mean doubling the cost of the project just to send someone out to save the first craft, assuming they are still alive.  On top of that, saving the first mission doesn't profit anyone involved.

In conclusion, unless humans can invent a way to create wormholes in space or build an engine that can travel way faster than the speed of light, I highly doubt we will ever travel the galaxy.  Hell, we can't even cure the common cold, so I doubt space travel is high on our priority list.  Then again, robots will take over the world soon enough and I bet they will travel the stars just to mock us filthy human scum.

"And don't even get me started on the problems with chest-bursting aliens."