“We can’t” is a state of mind. One that’s sadly prevalent in this board.

This is insignificant blather. I was an avid scifi fan in my youth. Isaac Azimov, etc. I appreciated when a writer actually explained science in his story. Scifi is great, but to enjoy it, you "suspend your disbelief", in fact the mark of a bad scifi movie is when you're bored enough to find fault with the science, like a tree cast out into the void burning for a long time.

But at some point you learn the harsh science lessons and come to terms with the reality, the speed of light is formidable, and there may be no worm holes. Andromeda Galaxy is going to ram our galaxy. There may be no alternate universes passing through our space unnoticed. The sun will expand and engulf earth if Andromeda doesn't get us. The universe could rip apart as it expands or we could just expand into cold space as all the suns burn out. And we are fragile - space travel can fry us. It sinks in that the human race may end some day with little chance of a revival. I had trouble with that.

Samuel Butler in The Way of All Flesh says 'all animals, except man, realize that the principal basis of life is to live it'. Headed down to Key West this month. Anyone been to Kruger Park in Africa?