To all who want Freelancer style world... it is dystopia, where 99% of human population lives on planets and only middle-classes of the most rich worlds (Manhattan, New London) can afford comfortable living. Place where corporations have more control than here on Earth and groups of workers that do find their way to space do view life as peripheral pirate on a rock across galaxy more meaningful than dying off radiation in diamond fields of Omega 11. Freelancer world has rampart work crisis, where Rheinlanders barely handle surviving until next day, Libertonians see their jobs being shut down and outsourced, Bretonians having the shortest lifespan in known space (With notable exception of Cambridge) and Kusarians being torn between tradition (and those who abuse it for their own profit) and modern ways (and those who abuse it for their own profit).
On top of that, we have genocidal aliens and it is even worse if you get born to Hispanics (unless you're OC and like hedonism on expense of million tragedies light years away). Space is dangerous and humanity divided into competing super powers again.
Basically the lives worth living is the 1% here.
back on topic, I believe Earth will go through really weird times and far fetched ideologies relevant to thriving with limited resources of Solar System prior to discovering meaningful way of interstellar travel.