Comment by gcanyon

Thanks! This wasn't it -- the story I read was a short short story, maybe only a page or two. It was basically:

   1. Humans despaired that the stars were impossibly far away, due to lightspeed limitations
   2. They realized it is possible to <do something> to get around that
   3. They worked hard to try it out
   4. Surprise! They made it worse/it was worse.
   5. The end

I don't remember any characterization, or narrative, beyond the above.