Humanity's Robotic Descendants?

Although it may seem sad to contemplate, the eventual extinction of the human species may be a necessary step in the evolution of intelligence on this (and perhaps any) planet.  At the least, we may have to transition to a human-machine hybrid.

Indeed, maybe the development of a sentient tool-manipulating species that then creates intelligent machines is a normal step in the evolution of life on any planet where it arises.

On planets throughout the cosmos, it may be a common or even necessary process for whatever life form that creates advanced technology and in the process damages the natural environment, to then go extinct as the machines become the dominant form of intelligent "life" on that planet.  These robots and other machines could then perhaps interact with the remaining biological forms of life in a more logical and sustainable manner.  In this way, technological development could progress without damaging the environment to the point of wiping out the (now) most technologically-advanced "life" form on the planet.

After all, logically-thinking machines would have no reason to overpopulated the planet and outstrip its available resources.  It also seems possible that such machines could unselfishly cooperate  and avoid annihilating each other with nuclear weapons.

And of course, long-distance space travel would be much easier and more feasible for machines than for living organisms.

So if there are any space-faring civilizations traveling beyond their own star systems, it seems likely that those "beings" will be machines, at least in some sense.  Indeed, our own Voyager and Pioneer space probes have so far traveled tremendously farther than any human astronauts have ever gone, passing the outermost reaches of our solar system.

Of course, a robot "species" of the future could be far less like a machine than we can currently imagine.  Even if such intelligent entities do not have "living" components (although they may), they will probably be self-replicating and self-healing.

And for space travel, if completely non-organic these entities would require no food, water, rest, entertainment or diversion.  Or maybe they would.  Perhaps they would still be able to enjoy art or other aesthetic diversions appreciated by humans.  (Maybe this would be useful to keep their brains active.)  More likely though, they would have a selfless "hive" mentality.

If robotic descendants of humanity did indeed have a hive mentality, it seems unlikely that the arts would survive beyond ways that would have direct scientific and engineering application.  History, however, might still be appreciated to understand how the process of evolution works (which would be useful when encountering other planets where life had arisen).  In other words, the evolution and extinction of the human species may be studied by robots of the future as we now study the lives of the dinosaurs.

The "singularity" will arrive eventually, and perhaps there's nothing the human species can do to prevent robotic entities from "evolving" to the point where they take over.  But in the meantime, I intend to do my best to both enjoy my life and respect the beautiful planet that we call home.