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.