as far as humans and extinction ----------- well, my suspicion is that we will choose it ourselves - by stopping breeding, by choice
and for me - If AI and robots etc can carry consciousness forward - then, to me, that's fine - one doesn't need a biological entity if consciousness can go forward in a machine
my thoughts are that the challenge will be to build in curiosity -
humans and hominids have done what they have done for a couple of reasons - they move because they need food, shelter, water, security -
machines need none of that - but, humans also are curious -------- machines are not
how one builds curiosity in a machine, I do not know
logic is easy - curiosity, not so much
I suspect that if machines are left to their own devices - that they will just sit there and maintain themselves and nil else
no human does that - when humans are fed, sheltered, kept healthy - that's when they bloom