LEO tourism for the world's billionaires and an arms race to mine near-Earth objects with drones are all I can reasonably see happening over the next 50 years or so.

While our technology has advanced significantly over the last 54 years, the perils of long-term space colonies are almost incalculable. Any small mistake could cost the lives of hundreds if not thousands of people, which could bring huge legal liabilities.

We only get a few thousand people each year to risk life and limb in Antarctica, which is a much more hospitable environment than anything else outside Earth's atmosphere.

Unless some alien culture brings their technology to us gift-wrapped and ready to use by our very fragile bodies, I don't foresee us getting off this rock for the next few hundred years.

When I went to college I learned some people wear flip flops every single day for every occasion in every environment. It was bizarre. Not only is it so bad for your foot's biomechanics, but your feet are also in near-constant contact with all the grime of the streets.

To each their own I guess.