> It seems pretty clear that the whole vector of humanity is to functionally merge with our engineered system in a symbiotic way and then probably see the extin

> It seems pretty clear that the whole vector of humanity is to functionally merge with our engineered system in a symbiotic way and then probably see the extinction of the human species in (relatively) short order As a transhumanist myself, I don't think that either of these things is obvious. Your focus on the "vector of humanity" is where you err. What we can see when we view the history of life - complexity - on Earth is the evolution not of humanity but of intelligence. This entails two questions: Are humans the endpoint of that evolution process? There is no rational reason why the answer should be yes. What, then. would be the next evolutionary step in intelligence? Two answers - genetically-enhanced humans, and machine-based intelligent actors. The fascinating - and distinguishing - thing about humans is that we will be the first organism in the history of the process (at least on Earth) to consciously create our evolutionary successors.