The human race will have a fight on its hands as the last surviving people have to hide from advanced robots in a world taken over by nature, a scientist has predicted. Dr Anders Sandberg has taken a look at what the future has in store for us when our species hits 1m-years-old and he's made some chilling predictions.
Dr Sandberg, from the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford, said that most species go extinct around that mark, and when we get there, in another 700,000 years, robots will have taken over the world. And the last remaining people will be in hiding - just like the plot of Terminator.
What do you think the future will look like? Let us know in the comments...
Writing for The Conversation, Dr Sandberg wrote: "Most species are transitory. They go extinct, branch into new species or change over time due to random mutations and environmental shifts.
"A typical mammalian species can be expected to exist for a million years. Modern humans, Homo sapiens, have been around for roughly 300,000 years. So what will happen if we make it to a million years?"
Dr Sandberg speculates that the human race could split into two different factions, with one favouring technology and scientific advancement and the other opting for a more natural way of life.
He said that his split will be exaggerated over hundreds of thousands of years, until the two factions look nothing alike and one - bolstered by technology, could be far stronger and more robot than man.
He added: "It is my job to explore the possibilities, and I think the most likely case is vast 'speciation' – when a species splits into several others.
"There are many among us who want to improve the human condition – slowing and abolishing ageing, enhancing intelligence and mood, and changing bodies – potentially leading to new species.
"These visions, however, leave many cold. It is plausible that even if these technologies become as cheap and ubiquitous as mobile phones, some people will refuse them on principle and build their self-image of being 'normal' humans.
"In the long run, we should expect the most enhanced people, generation by generation (or upgrade after upgrade), to become one or more fundamentally different 'posthuman' species – and a species of holdouts declaring themselves the 'real humans'."
Dr Sandberg added that one day technology will likely be so advanced that human brains could be scanned and remade in a computer, enabling people to live an entirely digital life.
He said this could be good for the planet as they would be very "resource efficient", needing only sunlight and "some rock material to make microchips" - but this could lead to the rise of a superior race powered by artificial intelligence.
The expert continued: "Artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly right now. While there are profound uncertainties and disagreements about when or if it becomes conscious, artificial general intelligence will arrive, a sizeable fraction of experts think it is possible within this century or sooner.
"If it can happen, it probably will. At some point, we are likely to have a planet where humans have largely been replaced by software intelligence or AI – or some combination of the two.
"Eventually, it seems plausible that most minds will become software. Research suggests that computers will soon become much more energy efficient than they are now.
"Software minds also won't need to eat or drink, which are inefficient ways of obtaining energy, and they can save power by running slower parts of the day.
"This means we should be able to get many more artificial minds per kilogram of matter and watts of solar power than human minds in the far future.
"And since they can evolve fast, we should expect them to change tremendously over time from our current style of mind.
"Physical beings have a distinct disadvantage compared with software beings, moving in the sluggish, quaint world of matter. Still, they are self-contained, unlike the flitting software that will evaporate if their data centre is ever disrupted."
Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at yourmirror@mirror.co.uk
