If civilization lasts that long? 500 years isn't a long time. Rome was around longer. As were the egyptians. The chinese much longer. western civilization, based off of the greek and roman worlds has been around much longer.
And who will we be?
I'd say that in five hundred years we'll still be primates. We'll still be H. sapiens sapiens--we have been for roughly twenty thousand years, why not an extra five hundred?
As to us going to some fantastic place--I agree. There is nothing like the thrill of the future, and what it might me like.
I'm not saying we've reached our evolutionary finale. We aren't done. But, what environment can we not change to suit us? There is none I can think of, besides the center of the sun or earth, and those places may soon be able to be lived in (soon as in next thousand or so years). What other body has such a high degree of manipulation capability, especially physical? What part of us can't we augment with our technology?
As I see it, there's not that much more to be done with us. what major flaws can't we fix in our body? Intelligence is one of the greatest survival tools in existence, and it's a shame we waste it in today's world.
yeah, I'm an optimist.
and yeah, not much of this makes sense.
All a man's knowledge comes from his experiences