That "Star Trek" future? It'll never happen. Humans don't have it in us.
Why do I say so?
Let me start at the beginning of the thought that led me down this path:
Humans want to believe they're ready to meet alien civilizations, and they can't even countenance each other, or domestic species that don't look like them... or have more then 4 appendages, or think they're better than.
Imagine the UFO door opens and a human sized spider emerges to greet the representatives of Earth... who run away screaming, shouting "kill it with fire!"
I think it's better that any alien nations watching our combative uncivilized species, keep on doing it from a safe distance.
