The Legend of Atlantis, Part 2

I'm having a metaphorical attack here.  Yeah, this Atlantis thing is rattling inside my cranium.  What does it mean?  What do I mean?  Well, let me give it a shot.

The legend has it that Atlantis sunk into the ocean.  Here's the metaphor:  we, meaning the human race, are sunk in the deep gravity well of Earth.  Can we get out?  Will we be trapped inside this deep gravity well forever? If so, we will then be like Atlantis, even with all our modern technology- we will remained trapped deep down below the ocean, as the Donovan song goes.  Our fate may be sealed up with the fate of the Earth, whatever that might be.

On the other hand, if we escape the gravity well, then what?  A new age of Atlantis?  Will the survivors of our species travel the interplanetary and interstellar reaches of space?  Will new civilizations arise in new worlds -seeded by the lost civilization here on Earth- allowing our species to survive in perpetuity?  Or will we be lost forever in the deep, deep ocean of space and time?