Is space good for us?

After reading this article about sci-fi and the views different shows/books/stories take on what living in space will be like, I was reminded of Bernie's brief lecture in class on life in space. The problem is this: say that a civilization like ours, a civilization that advances to the point where it is technologically possible to send colonies to far distant planets, does so. Say we send out a hundred colonies (which, over time and assuming there would be many volunteers, is not that many). And say that we have a 98% failure rate and only two colonies of those hundred make it to their destinations and settle their planets. It takes them a hundred years, or more, to do this. Eventually, however, they overcome all the hazards of establishing themselves on a new planet, and they advance, and eventually they do the same thing and send out ships. The same 98% failure rate goes for them, and for the colonies they send out who eventually send colonies of their own, etc. And this is assuming we're the only ones doing this--what if there was another, alien civilization who did the same thing?
In any case, the point is that, given the laws of exponents, if this was done then in 10,000 years or a little more the galaxy would be saturated with intelligent civilizations. But this is not the case. Thus, either we are the first in the galaxy to come to this point, or, there have been other civilizations who have come as far as we have and, for whatever reason, failed to go into space. This could be because, like we are currently doing, they destroyed their planet/themselves and eventually died off catastrophically. Or it could be because they simply decided that going into space was not to their benefit-- as some people on earth are indeed thinking, as evidenced by sci-fi shows like Cowboy Bepop and Firefly. Will our society, as a whole, reach a point where space exploration is no longer a factor in our vision for the future?
I suppose this is possible, but I'd point out that even if these TV shows have a pessimistic view of life in space, they are still assuming that in the future life for people will be in space.
Also, the article points out that very rarely does science fiction predict the future--as much as it has informed how we think about where humanity will go, sci-fi writers are generally trying to comment on the present day, not argue for what they think human destiny is. This is perhaps why it is somewhat of a moot point that sci-fi is, after all (by its very name) Fake Science. Shows that try to stick to real physics (like Firefly, wherein there is never any sound in space, as opposed to Star Trek where the photon torpedoes always fire with a futuristic laser-gun bling noise) are to be admired, but a sci-fi author, concerned more with getting her point across than with being accurate, will always pick and choose the facts and fiction that work best for her story's agenda. Therefore, it is in fact not a very good idea to try and form an idea of what the future will really be like, or about people's view of it, by looking at science fiction.