Anthropology

And there's not a lot of faith on the part of most scientists that we will ever have FTL (faster than light) travel, nor that wormholes, if they even exist, will prove a useful way of getting great distances.

But even if I am completely wrong here, there's another thing to keep in mind. Species have a finite life span. Yeah, I know, there are some species that have been around for several hundred million years, but none of them are plausible candidates for ever developing the kind of intelligence that will go on to invent FTL drives. The vast majority of species continue to evolve, just as we humans are. In fact, we have probably evolved more in the last ten thousand years than we did in the previous 100,000 years. So my point is that a species that actually invents FTL travel and explores or even colonizes the galaxy, isn't going to be around a few million years later. It's possible that if we ever get out there we will find the remnants of long-gone civilizations, not still living, vibrant ones.