Technically the human brain is easily the biggest edge, it's a no-brainer. No specie can be able to advance and adapt like humans have been able to. This is why other species or beings can be kept in confinement by us. Infact, if humans can keep their fellow humans in slavery, it shows how dominant the human specie is.
Eventually Mars will be terraformed, and near light speed or greater will be figured out and onto other stars or planets.
I believe this too, and we can see that technology is already advancing to these levels. Unfortunately like you've said, it's just for the future generations and we won't be here.