kbertsche writes:
The energy expenditure for this would be enormous, of course. That's why sci-fi scenarios of sending people to colonize distant planets are complete fantasy. It would require an energy source which is nearly infinite and essentially free.
Rrhain and I had a similar argument about this very thing. Here is my perspective on the matter of interstellar travel. But first, I need to reiterate what you said in terms that people from the age of sails could understand.
The wind speed to carry a ship from Europe to North America in a few days would be enormous, of course. That's why sci-fi scenarios of sending people to distant lands are complete fantasy. It would require wind speed that is nearly impossible to imagine.
If it's not obvious yet, I'm trying to point out that you are approaching this problem with a very 20th-21st century way of thinking, just like how a person from the 16th century would think about intercontinental travel. Flight never occurred to them. Bullet train never occurred to them. Underwater tunnels never occurred to them. To them, getting from Europe to the Americas or Asia in less than several months time would be nothing more than fantasy.
In very much the same way, you're superimposing our limited understanding of physics onto all the great inventions and discoveries waiting for us in the future. Sure, it may be fantasy now, but who knows what the future holds?