Yeah, well, I look at it from a Neil Armstrong kinda perspective.

The evolution of man is not keeping pace with the evolution of mankind.

Okay, I know his quote was a flub (what he meant to say was "One small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind"). But I think I can still phrase it as it was said back then and it still fits.

For man as a creature, we haven't changed much in the past 100,000 years or so, physiologically speaking anyways. What has changed dramatically is our modus operandi, the way that we do things, given our intrinsic abilities. What's happened to us is a constant upgrade of utilization of a relatively static capacity, improving efficiency. In so doing, we are also altering our reality, or rather the way we interface with reality, disconnecting ourselves further and further from the risks and hazards that were barriers to our previous prosperity.

I suspect that we will plateau soon, relatively speaking, as our ability to comprehend reality has it's limits for the moment. There's not much further we can go in scientific discovery, at least relative to what we've already revealed, based on what we can perceive in our current state. We might make it to some form of practical interstellar travel in our present evolutionary form, and even master the ability to harness the more powerful energy sources to our benefit. But there's really not that much more left, not until we as a race take the next step up in our physical development, which will most likely allow us to have a direct influence over the physical limits of our existence simply by thinking it so.

My guess is that over the next 10,000 years, we will probably have run into the physical barriers what can be learned, and any further advances in intellect will have to wait until our being can expand beyond those limits. Sort of a Jonathan Livingston Seagull type of transformation I suspect. That may take another 100,000 years or more, assuming we survive as a race that long.

One thing I am certain of, we are not in an end state yet. In fact, I think we still have a long, long way to go. Kubrick probably alluded to our next evolution at the end of "2001" as well as can be I suppose. Our next evolution should give us the ability to function independently of our present needs for things like air, water, food, shelter, society, etc. Time will no longer be a factor in our existence.

In the meantime, we are like the worm in the cocoon. Wiggling, writhing, struggling against the walls of our limited existence. Filling the void within, until at some point we are no longer a worm, but something else, something able to go where no worm can go.