because investing in space isn't something that will only result in a return on investment in 50 years - it will happen very soon, as evidence by the works of Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Burt Rutan, and yes, even Al Gore (who was at last year's X Prize Cup).  

As for culmination - your trying to pin down the idea of success or culmination to either 1 thing (survival of the species), or trying to imbide some sort of ethical aspect to culmination (after all, Nazi Germany was the culmination of antisemitism, but its not something to celebrate).  Borrowing from the dictionary, it is derived from culminate, which means to reach the highest point.  

The highest point, speaking from the perspective of life, isn't something that can be determined using a single metric.  It isn't determined simply by numbers of particular species, or whatever ethical ideals you wish to view.  It comes from a number of things - the extent to which we can change the universe (quite a bit), the capabilities of a single unit of the species (ie 1 person, or 1 bacteria), the intelligence of the species (care to pit me against a lizard?) the growth rate of the species, how long a species has been in existence, and, perhaps what I would argue is most important, the ability to create.  Up until the advent of the common ancestor of great apes and human beings, the creative ability was very limited - shelter, offspring, and biological extensions.  That ancestor added a new creative ability - tools.  Humanity has take that creative ability, and created the idea of something beyond the physical world - art, music, spirituality, law - none of those truly exist as physical objects, but they came about because of our creativity.  And, yes, sometimes that creativity manifests itself in terrible ways.  

The point is that we are the culmination because of all those reasons

While I do agree that the earth didn't create us on purpose, energy get expended (well, technically transfered into a non usable form) all the time, and part of that energy usage comes from us, and that energy (at least the energy that we expend, and I would argue that the energy that all life expends) has purpose - we don't eat because of randomness in our lives - we eat because we are alive, and want to stay alive.  (Does this mean that there is a God?  I would argue yes, but even if you are an atheists, I know plenty of atheists who have purpose in their lives, and they transfer energy...)

Further, I would in addition argue that, while the existence of purpose within the universe, the existence of patterns is not.  I make this point because life is a part of that pattern, and part of the pattern that is life, can be seen in the persistent push towards intelligence and creativity (compare brain size evolution).  Had the dinosaurs not been wiped out 65 million years ago, there is good reason to suspect that right now, in place of humanity would have evolved a dinosaur version.  

You seem so quick to dismiss humans "Humans aren't that important", or "humans are no more than any other organism", and while thats true, that doesn't mean we are unimportant, or any less than any other organism.  Elon Musk has commented on how changing things were when life left the ocean, and how it will be comparable to when life truly moves to something that includes more than just planet earth.    I would agree - we are a part of this.  Going into space isn't about satisfying humanity's ego - I would argue that its about satisfying life's ego, and life's continue push towards something that includes more and more area that is currently lifeless.  

You seem awful quick to commit us to something like a hunter/gather society, or a basic agrarian society  - what if life wants us to find something more than that?

you state that

There have been good and bad people for all of recorded history, and it will never change as long as our species remains our species.

and yet, at the same time, you also state

I am indeed here because of my belief in making a better world.

In essence, to me at least, you seem to be saying it won't (and frankly can't) get any better, but you are here to make it better - I don't accuse you of being against humanity - I accuse you of being logically inconsistent (and demonstrated your logical inconsistency).  

Moving back to some of what you said earlier - first, I would point out that evolution happens over a longer time frame than we have records for, so I feel its a little early to say we have all the evidence we need to prove that humanity is set in its ways (and for that matter, we have not sampled a lot of the DNA of humans to know whether we have the gene mutations you feel we need).

Secondly, you seem to (at least to me) ignore the whole point of nurture - we are not static beings once we come out of our mothers wombs - look at the development of personality during our early years of develop - under good circumstances people like Ghandi, MLK, Nelson Mandella, Al Gore come into existence - under other circumstances, people like Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin, Pol Pot, or Charles Manson come into existence.  Yes, there is some genetic difference, but it isn't all genetics - just look at the reasons for moving more Headstart into earlier years (0-3).

The point I am trying to make is that humanity and human society isn't simply the collection of human beings, with their destiny determined by the genes they are handed out at birth - it is the interaction, and collective mind that comes from being a social society - I am white, and odds are good I always will be white - but I can read novels like Invisible Man, and at least begin to understand the plight of an African American.  My sister, while not a geek, can read Geeks by Jon Katz, and appreciate the horror that school was for me.  

I make these points because, you seem to be of the opinion that the only thing we'll get from off-planet resources is by mining other asteroids.  And its not - there will be countless new perspectives offered, such as The Overview effect.  There is access to the unique environment that is zero-g.  How about being on a planet that has 2 moons?  And thats all just within our solar system.  

In addition, I can point to more concrete resources, that don't extract from a planet, like space based solar power.  

Which brings me to my next point - I don't agree that the Patriot act proves that we haven't moved beyond what we saw in 12th century England.  What it proves is that we have gone in directions which our forefathers could not predict, and that history does not occur in a straight line.  But then, that is obvious to anyone.  As we've moved forward in history, the idea of law, equality, and fairness entered our collective thoughts, and became interwoven in the fabric of society.  The basis for civil rights emerged, and Justice emerged.  Is it there for everyone to take part in?  Not yet, but the fact that these ideas exists means that society is moving toward something that I consider better.  

You may view the the human psyche as fundamentally flawed - thats is the beauty of individual thought.  But that doesn't mean that its right.  From where I sit, humanity has improved - not by much and at times there is backslide, but that improvement is there, however much you don't want to see it.  

BTW, I have to say, I am truly impressed that you threw in the Nazi and Bolshevik reference.

This brings me my next point

There have been good and bad people for all of recorded history, and it will never change as long as our species remains our species.

And you know how species change?  By being introduced to new environments - where on earth will you find new environments?  You assume that exploitation must be advantages to one side, and disadvantages to the other side - but exploitation can be beneficial to one side, and have no impact to the other side, or it can be beneficial to both sides.  Do not confuse exploitation with parasitism - they are not the same thing.

Finally, you asked me to come and see nature from your perspective - will you do the same?  Will you come into space and see the earth, spread out, full scale?  Will come to the moon, and watch earthrise?  And, if the option presents itself, will you come and see the rest of the universe, beyond that which is found in the forest, around a campfire, and simply sitting under the stars?

You may feel I need a reminder on how small we are - I think you need a reminder about how big the universe is, and how we don't need to limit our perspective.