I use the awareness of this connection — that limitless growth is exactly cancer — as a distinguishing feature for SFF I'm gonna like vs that which I won't
If you think "mankind" is headed for the stars and glorious destiny… you haven't figured this out yet.
Heinlein never quite got it. Neither have the TESCREAL dinguses.
Even the post-scarcity Culture (and the Federation) bump into their neighbors & engage Special Circumstances (or similar).