×
welcome covers

Your complimentary articles

You’ve read all of your complimentary articles for this month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please


If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.

To buy or renew a subscription please visit the Shop.

If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.

Human Futures

After The Humans Are Gone

Eric Dietrich looks forward to the extinction of humanity.

Recently on the History Channel, artificial intelligence (AI) was singled out, with much wringing of hands, as one of the seven possible causes of the end of human life. I will argue that this wringing of hands is quite inappropriate: the best thing that could happen to humans, and to the rest of life on planet Earth, would be for us to develop intelligent machines and then usher in our own extinction.

Humans versus the World

British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking recently asked the following question on Yahoo Answers: “In a world that is in chaos politically, socially, and environmentally, how can the human race sustain another 100 years?” The answers included: “Get rid of nuclear weapons” and “Somehow we will.” A number of people suggested thinking differently: ending bickering or fostering cooperation. Many were doubtful that we could survive another 100 years.