A consensus evolved, irrespective of the cost, that nothing would be gained from an earthbound search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) program or manned or unmanned space travel — and that finding any other life forms within practical distances was remote indeed.^{RealityCheck!}

By the time a signal transmitted from Earth reached a civilization that by chance might be able to interpret our message — potentially tens or hundreds of light-years away — centuries or millennia would have passed. Similarly, a response back from them would require again just as much time. The whole notion became moot when interest, drive and desire to travel or explore the unexplored waned, with such easy access to all the world's accumulated knowledge via Phrenicea.

Man's adventurous spirit was lost to the contentment of Phrenicea and a sedentary existence within one's very small cubicle-like domain.