Superhumanism

Abstract

According to Hans Moravec, robots will achieve human-level intelligence by 2040 and subsequently displace humans as Earth’s dominant lifeform. This technological evolution will proceed through several stages, beginning with simple autonomous robots performing basic tasks, advancing to universal robots capable of complex operations by 2010, and culminating in fully conscious machines by 2030. When robots become superintelligent, they will extend into space, evolving into an advanced civilization that will eventually subsume Earth. While this transition will render humanity obsolete in its current form, Moravec argues this outcome is not only inevitable but desirable, representing the ultimate transcendence of human limitations. The robots, retaining values from their human creators, will preserve humanity by simulating human civilization in extraordinary detail. This optimistic vision of human extinction through technological succession challenges conventional notions of human identity and survival, presenting it instead as a natural and beneficial evolution of consciousness from biological to artificial substrates. - AI-generated abstract.