Perhaps we will invent something that can travel faster than light. But even at the speed of light, it is four years travel time to the star closest to the Sun. Twice the speed of light, two years. Four times the speed of light, one year.
Practically speaking, why wait? The idea is that deep space may have rules that we don’t know about. If future tech does not pan out, we have still much to learn with slow and methodical.
Well, I suppose there’s no harm in shooting probes out there, even though they’ll take years to get anywhere and years to report back. But, if we never get close to the speed of light in terms of propulsion, it will probably be an exercise of limited practical value, since we probably wouldn’t send any people out to follow them up.