Well, there are actually some pretty good reasons to believe it's impossible. First of all, anything that could do it would not be fueled by energy, or at least not by our current understanding of what energy is. You may have heard that F=ma, meaning that as long as you apply enough force, you can accelerate as much as you want. This is more of an approximation of the actual formula, and the closer you get to the speed of light, the more energy it takes to accelerate the same amount. In total, it would take an infinite amount of energy to accelerate anything with mass to the speed of light, so we judge it to be impossible. Any faster than light travel would require a lot more than just a powerful energy source.

What about balance and proprioception? Those are also basic human senses.

Global Warming was discovered in 1896. Back then, let alone computers, even radio had only just been invented. If we think the novel characters are lazy for not solving it with technology that we almost have already, how do you think people from 1896 view us?

Fixing global warming requires very expensive procedures such as mass carbon capture, as well as deterioration in lifestyles by using less fossil fuels. The fuels can be replaced to a certain extent by other sources such as geothermal, wind, solar, and nuclear, but it takes a lot of expensive infrastructure to build up to that. The people who have the money and power to do so can protect themselves from the effects much more cheaply, so why spend a ton to fix a problem that won't affect them? Going to Mars or advancing medicine is useful to them, since they need medicine too, and Mars is a good escape if something catastrophic like a nuclear war breaks out.

Whoa an author who knows what they're talking about. I didn't think this website had any. Consider me invested.

"Why would you ask?" should be "Why, you would ask?"

It's hard to find stories on QI that feel like they'd be a genuinely good read. I haven't read this yet, but everything you've written here sounds like what I'd want out of a book, especially the willingness to go back and fix mistakes. I am ok with bad grammar, though I will try to point it out when I see it. The fact that you care about coherency elevates this story above most on the website, and I am looking forward to reading it. Thank you for caring.

I agree with you on most of that, but what do you have against people with double digit IQ? That is literally half the population. IQ is set up so they measure where everyone is, label the average as 100, and then compare everyone against that. IQ below 80 would make sense as an insult, but below 100 is just a normal human being.