According to fossil records...
200 Thousand years ago, man finally apeared from apes that started 14 million years ago that started from mamals that survived K/T 66 million years ago.
So mamals survived.. branched out into monkeys, apes, neanderthal, and humans...
Neanderthals were eventually either slaughtered by humans with our innovative weapons...
or neanderthals hunted each other to extinction?
How ever it happened, Humans are the best this Earth could produce for our time...
We discovered nukes... a device for self extinction...
We discovered cars... another device for self extinction... poluting our planet with petroleum products...
I doubt neanderthals ever anticipated their own demise and strategized ways to prosper above it like humans can.
But we can learn from our mistakes...
We can also innovate our future to survive our self correct our errors...
perhaps venture out to the stars...
Are we the first in the universe that can control our future, self evolve as needed... and grow beyond our planet? (Assuming we are not wiped out in the blink of an eye by another space rock.......)