It's not so strange to understand the excitement when you think about how many people would really REALLY like FTL travel to be possible. Not only does it invok

It's not so strange to understand the excitement when you think about how many people would really REALLY like FTL travel to be possible. Not only does it invoke romantic ideas about exploring the stars and lets people dream about becoming captain of their own starship on day, it also helpfully distracts from having to confront the extremely difficult social issues that hinder saving the Earth from it's myriad problems. Without FTL you take all those dreams away, so it's no wonder people are extremely interested in anything that even looks like a "solution".