I take issue with the assumption that the only two options are perpetual expansion of systems derived from an origin of life out into the universe, and destruction via some filter. The universe just might not be clement to expansion of life or life's products beyond small islands of habitability, like our world.

Right - but we can see how far apart the stars in our galaxy are, and roughly what it would take to travel between them. Intragalactic travel looks as though it will be relatively trivial - for advanced living systems.