Humans are not the end point of evolution

It's understandable that we would consider ourselves to represent not only the "end" of evolution, but even the "purpose" behind the process.  J.G. Ballard begs to remind us that modern humans have been present for only a few tens of thousands of years in a billions-of-years process, and that it doesn't stop now:

“Most educated people are aware that we are the outcome of nearly 4 billion years of Darwinian selection, but many tend to think that humans are somehow the culmination. Our sun, however, is less than halfway through its lifespan. It will not be humans who watch the sun’s demise, 6 billion years from now. Any creatures that then exist will be as different from us as we are from bacteria or amoebae.”