Can Humans Colonize the Galaxy?

Is it possible for humans to colonize the galaxy and successfully sustain human life on other planets? There are between 100-400 billion stars in our galaxy, The Milky Way, which is approximately 160,000 light-years from one end to the other. A light-year is the distance light travels in one earth year. To date, a single spacecraft has been sent outside of our solar system, moving along at 0.006% of the speed of light. At this rate, it would take over 2.5 billion years for us to go from one end of the galaxy to the other. In addition, humans need a lot of resources to stay alive. However, scholars have found that it is theoretically possible for humans to quickly colonize other planets without breaking any laws of physics. These ideas are based on self-replicating paper machines, designed by mathematician John Von Neumann, called von Neumann machines. These machines could first be built on earth and then launched into space. When the self-sufficient machines landed on a distant planet, they could mine the available resources, harvest the energy, build replicas of themselves, launch the replicas to other nearby planets, and start the whole process over again. With the ability to travel at 5% of the speed of light, it was estimated that a von Neumann machine could spread human civilization across the galaxy within 4 million years or less—a relatively quick time considering our universe is estimated to be 14 billion years old. However, in order to create a von Neumann machine, we would need special technology that isn’t developed yet, such as miniaturization and better propulsion systems. Lastly, spreading humans across the galaxy would require the ability to critically grow biological organisms and bodies using raw elements and genetic information. Could humans ever get to the point of leaving earth to live elsewhere? Perhaps. But for now, all we have is a dream.