Perspectives of Interstellar Flight: From the Utopia of Solar Sails to Quantum Photon Engines and Post-Biological Species Transformation

Abstract. This article provides a critical analysis of modern interstellar flight concepts, particularly those based on solar and laser sails (including initiatives associated with D. Gubanov and Yuri Milner's Breakthrough Starshot). It is demonstrated that these approaches represent a technological utopia due to insurmountable contradictions: energy gigantomania and the fatal absence of an autonomous braking mechanism in the target stellar system. As a viable alternative, the development of autonomous quantum photon engines utilizing the dynamic Casimir effect to extract energy from the vacuum is substantiated. Furthermore, based on comparative physiology and recent neurointerface research, it is argued that successful interstellar expansion is impossible without the post-biological transformation of Homo sapiens, as biological limitations render humans non-viable actors on relativistic cosmic scales.