It's argued that computers will grow more and more autonomous, eventually surpassing human intelligence. Eventually, some say, these machines will realize we're a liability and leave us behind. If you think this sounds like a '50s B-movie, don't worry: it's not going to happen. If anything, humans and computers will grow together, becoming increasingly difficult to separate.
Computers are stuck in an intimate symbiosis with human beings because we're the dominant factor in their reproduction. Computers may evolve, but their evolution isn't shaped by natural selection; it's shaped by the human computer market. So, to ask what computers will become is to ask what we want from them.
Look at how people use artificial intelligence today. The emergence of expert systems, which spurred people to envision great electronic brains running international corporations, instead produced pattern-recognition software that enables people in large companies to make better decisions.
Instead of replacing us, computers will become a secondary, symbiotic species, enhancing our lives in specialized but powerful ways. In the process, they will transform what it means to be human.
