The Moon cannot be ignored or bypassed.

No other major celestial body is closer, excluding the occasional space
rock whizzing by, and with a diameter that would almost cover the
United States, it is hardly a place to dismiss in terms of mineral
resources.

If you want to test a space colony, doesn't it make more sense to do
this on a world just a few days travel away, rather than months in case
something goes wrong and the colonists need to be rescued?

I think NEOs are important too, and Mars is of course a future place to
colonize as well, but we cannot bypass the Moon.

It would be nice if the Universe could be preserved strictly for science,
but if we want a permanent human presence in space, and we will have
one unless we really mess things up, we will have to accept the fact
that there will be a few McDonalds or their equivalent up there, too.
That is probably how space colonization and exploration will become financially
feasible anyway.