RE: Random musings...humanity's downfall...
Very nice... And yes: humanity will have only itself to blame for its downfall; of that I am certain.
That said, I don’t find your chain of causality quite as compelling as you do. Sexual reproduction is a characteristic of our species, but that doesn’t make it a law of nature. There are plenty of other species that reproduce in different ways. Nor is there any reason why parents must stay together to ‘raise’ their offspring. There are tribal societies in which there is no social bond whatsoever with the biological parents; instead, the whole village takes care of the children. The formation of clans, hierarchies, communities and states, and the creation of institutions, do not stem from laws of nature. They are one possible development – which, to my regret, we have taken. For the most part.
“The Matrix” presented a disturbing idea, which I, however – even though I cannot of course prove it – consider unlikely: the people in that simulation were so content that they did not question their condition. And now please take a look around at (global) reality...
Very good points. :)
I guess what I'm saying is that there is nothing that is not ruled by nature. What we believe is unnatural, is unnatural because we don't understand the natural laws governing it. For example, if magic exists, say, in the form that Wicca uses, then there must be one or more natural laws which provide for it. The only thing outside of nature is nature itself, which some refer to as God.
So everything which happens in the world, is due to the laws of nature. AI is only artificial because it was created by humans, but it's merely the result of evolution...natural laws. There's nothing unnatural about it.
The laws of nature govern the how, but not the what. We all have similar, if not the exact same brain functionality, but the brain relies on input from outside itself, and it's own past experiences, to fuel it's thoughts. If some of us come to the same conclusion, then we've arrived there from different points of view, but we won't necessarily come to the same future conclusions because of that. The views we share today may not be the views we share tomorrow.
Our global reality is the result of all the above. It's merely evolution at play.