Why should they have to? The Theory of Relativity is only 111 year old. Don't you think, in even another measly 111 years, in 2127, we might have surpassed it in our understanding? How about in a thousand years?
It's not technology that will create FTL travel - it's the longevity of technological civilization. If we can just keep from wiping ourselves out long enough, we'll find the way. So the idea that someone else beat us to it isn't so far fetched, when you consider the vastness of the night sky.
Atomism is over 2000 years old, and still stands.
“If we can just keep from wiping ourselves out long enough, we’ll find the way.”
We might fall into a virtual reality pleasure hole, so we would keep existing but never care about exploring anything.
There could be something between stars or galaxies that stops physical SLT probes. The pulsars, black holes and quasars that would do something weird to alert folks that it is artificial would get shut off really fast when something notices. Maybe most might realize this fast, and never start broadcasting so they don’t attract a disinfecting gamma ray burst... this isn’t us, obviously.
Freegards
I don’t disagree but you (not you personally) don’t get to use known science today to suit your needs (no God) and the use it to support your beliefs (little green men).