And the benefits of modern technology far outweigh the downsides, but
even more than being able to walk through a forest or a field of green
grass and yellow flowers, is that we do not lose our capacity to think
and question. If we keep letting all this instant info do the work for us,
pretty soon we won't even bother keeping much in our heads as we will
assume we can just look it up on the computer real fast.

And the other issue is will we become obsolete or redundant by our own
technology? When it starts being able to build versions of itself and eventually
make even better machines, where will we fit in? Are we put out to
pasture or remove altogether?

We keep thinking we are the pinnacle of creation, or that our distant
descendants will just have bigger heads and smaller bodies. I have the
feeling, though, that we are merely the stepping stone towards something
way beyond organic intelligence, something that will be as alien to us if
not moreso than actual beings from other worlds. Will we survive the
shock as a species and culture, if we are even allowed to survive at all?

Forget finding out that we aren't the center of the Universe - what if we
are just the equivalent of a rocket booster stage for the real payload and
mission, to be released and dumped in the metaphorical ocean after our
purpose is fulfilled.