Forget intergalactic. The distances are too great. Even intragalactic is close to impossible. When the nearest star to us, in a galaxy that spans about 100,000 light years in a huge, spinning spiral, is 200 light years away, or 70 light years. The distances are so enormous that to traverse them with any sort of purpose or communications would take so long it would render the whole operation pointless. Unless there exists a being somewhere in the vastness of the universe that develops the capacity to exploit quantum physics in order to literally leap from one point in the galaxy to another, I cannot see how space travel and contact with beings from another world is going to occur. This should not be construed as an argument for not spending money on space exploration. Of course we should. The knowledge gained through the research done to achieve the things NASA, the ESA, the Soviets/Russians, and others have achieved, has yielded enormous benefit to humanity.
Forget intergalactic. The distances are too great. Even intragalactic is close to impossible. When the nearest star to us, in a galaxy that spans about 100,000 light years in a huge, spinning spiral, is 200 light years away, or 70 light years. The distances are so enormous that to traverse them with any sort of purpose or communications would take so long it would render the whole operation pointless. Unless there exists a being somewhere in the vastness of the universe that develops the capacity to exploit quantum physics in order to literally leap from one point in the galaxy to another, I cannot see how space travel and contact with beings from another world is going to occur. This should not be construed as an argument for not spending money on space exploration. Of course we should. The knowledge gained through the research done to achieve the things NASA, the ESA, the Soviets/Russians, and others have achieved, has yielded enormous benefit to humanity.