>Or, just create a robot species in our image to explore for us. And hope they keep their meaty parents around and happy Indeed, I think this is the most plaus

>Or, just create a robot species in our image to explore for us. And hope they keep their meaty parents around and happy Indeed, I think this is the most plausible scenario. And I think a robot civilization would want to keep Earth living and breathing for reasons other than sentiment. Life has been around a long time, and has solved problems a robot civ hasn't thought of yet. Also, there are certain catastrophes that could wipe out a robot civ, but not Earth (and vice-versa) so we could be each other's backups. Of course, Earth is just an absolutely beautiful place, worth maintaining for that reason alone. And the bots might even choose to maintain pockets of life elsewhere in the solar system, just in case, but that is a very different scenario to the one in the OP's article.