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the (currently) esoteric domain of self-reproducing machines—to the power and
versatility of neurons and their synapses. This could become a new, great frontier of
research. Here too, biology might point the way, as we come to understand biological
development well enough to imitate its essence.

Altogether, the advantages of artificial over natural intelligence appear
permanent, while the advantages of natural over artificial intelligence, though substantial
at present, appear transient. I’d guess that it will be many decades before engineering
catches up, but—barring catastrophic wars, climate change, or plagues, so that
technological progress stays vigorous—few centuries.

If that’s right, we can look forward to several generations during which humans,
empowered and augmented by smart devices, coexist with increasingly capable
autonomous AIs. There will be a complex, rapidly changing ecology of intelligence, and
rapid evolution in consequence. Given the intrinsic advantages that engineered devices
will eventually offer, the vanguard of that evolution will be cyborgs and superminds,
rather than lightly adorned Homo sapiens.

Another important impetus will come from the exploration of hostile
environments, both on Earth (e.g., the deep ocean) and, especially, in space. The human
body is poorly adapted to conditions outside a narrow band of temperatures, pressures,
and atmospheric composition. It needs a wide variety of specific, complex nutrients, and
plenty of water. Also, it is not radiation-hardened. As the manned space program has
amply demonstrated, it is difficult and expensive to maintain humans outside their
terrestrial comfort zone. Cyborgs or autonomous AIs could be much more effective in
these explorations. Quantum AIs, with their sensitivity to noise, might even be happier in
the cold and dark of deep space.

In a moving passage from his 1935 novel Odd John, science fiction’s singular
genius Olaf Stapledon has his hero, a superhuman (mutant) intelligence, describe Homo
sapiens as “the Archaeopteryx of the spirit.” He says this, fondly, to his friend and
biographer, who is a normal human. Archaeopteryx was a noble creature, and a bridge to
greater ones.

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