Unfortunately probes just don't capture the human imagination like manned exploration does.
Perhaps a reason to invest in tech like neuralink? If we eventually merge with AI, perhaps each of those probes will ultimately feel like an appendage that is just slow to respond.
If Moore’s Law keeps on going, it’s only a short matter of time before not only can we upload a single consciousness to a probe, but a fully functioning copy of all our society’s members’ consciousnesses. They will either be able to interact and amuse themselves and evolve during the trip, have their threads suspended and thus essentially put into hibernation until arrival, run at some clock-reduced rate so they perceive the travel as being extremely swift, or some combination of any of these items, and then some.
If Moore’s Law doesn’t keep on going... well, then... perception of (very) swift travel it is... ;)
So the machines put them on a barren planet in the middle of interstellar space with no source of natural light? Seems like a pretty desolate end for humanity.
Perhaps a reason to invest in tech like neuralink? If we eventually merge with AI, perhaps each of those probes will ultimately feel like an appendage that is just slow to respond.