I think there are a few movies that made me realize how much the space is vast, empty and adverse to life.

I think it would be nice for people to take a look at them:

- Aniara (2018)

- High Life (2018)

and maybe in a less artistic view:

- Powers of Ten (1977) yt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0

In my opinion, if we really want a presence off of earth we'd be better off building larger and larger space habitats and bootstrapping a mining industry in space.

Note that a journey to a star a 100 light years away where you accelerate and decelerate with a constant 1 g for each half of the journey only takes 9 years of subjective time for the traveller (hence the twin paradox). To Proxima Centauri (4.24 ly) the gain isn’t as dramatic, it would take 3.5 years of subjective time.

Of course, we aren’t anywhere near having the technology for that, and there may not be any suitable planets in that vicinity, but it also doesn’t seem completely impossible.

Gliese 710 will pass 0.17 light years from us in a bit over 1M years. If we can colonize mars and build some infrastructure in the solar system by then, we should have an OK shot at getting something there to stay. It'll be 62 light days away.

Space is cool, and I support the scientific work some of its pioneers discover. But the category of people who believe space travel is somehow the solution to problems on Earth give me headaches.

I have an optimistic view that building underground facilities on Mars/Lunar might not be a far-stretched idea. But I have never done any research into the idea so not whether it works or not.

Basically, reducing costs and tech requirements by going underground (since it is underground we do not need to terraform the planet, and it is less likely to leak oxygen to external environment). Digging dirts and stones is a solvable problem. So optimistically I believe this is just an engineering/cost problem.

Yes, the distances are mind-boggling. There are a few somewhat realistic solutions for making such a trip in the forseeable future. If you send something of significant mass, it is certain to take a long time. So we're either talking generation ships(§), embryo space colonization (growing into adults en route or at destination) or hibernation. That or a breakthrough in fundamental physics.

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(§) Something like O'Neill cylinders with fusion as energy source could work

Proxima flares and bathes Proxima Centauri b in radiation when it does, so it seems unlikely to be particularly habitable. But it's still tantalising...

Or we learn how to make uninhabitable planets habitable. Would also help us “save” this one.

(Funny how we say “save the planet” when we really mean “save people/complex life”).

Well I guess real end of the world will come around when we crash with Andromeda.