We are often too caught up as a species with our desires for technological excellence that we fail to realize our status as transitory civilizations. Each civilization is known for it's stereotype symbolism and so will be ours. Perhaps our civilization would be known by the next civilization as one fascinated by machinery ! I personally think that the next civilization would be an "energy" civilization where we would become forms of energy. These forms of energy would look upon our current status in much the same stereotypical manner that we reverently look at the egyptian civilization. Take a moment to realize these things and we would be humbled at how temporary we are, like moths or mayflies dreaming for an union with the bright lights ! We are sentient, but that does not mean we are out of the loop of time yet !