There seems little doubt amongst us humans, that fear is a powerful motivator !
I think 'doom' is the ultimate fear, and hence, the ultimate motivator for us all, eh ?
It may never be empirically possible for any physical particle of mass, to travel at the speeds necessary, in order to bridge the awesome distances involved in interplanetary travel. This is likely to upset the 'dreamer' set, (not that I don't include myself in this category, also).
I actually have a bit of a chuckle when I think annihilation by aliens, which hasn't happen to us yet … seems to suggest they can't crack the nut of interplanetary travel .. or perhaps, they're just 'lazy astronomers', also !
Chuckle .. chuckle ...
Cheers