Technology has been advancing at an exponential rate, with the creation of supercomputers that is able to process data way faster than any human is able too. In fact, the creation of intelligent machines such as Deep Blue which is already able to defeat human's best chess player is already showing signs of machines able to utilize quantity, which is their sheer processing power, to overcome humans's quality, which is our intuition and experiences. By being able to calculate every possible scenario in the future using processing power, the machines will be always have an edge over humans. This shows that machines may already close be close to reaching human's intelligence and may one day even overtake humans. Since they are as intelligent as humans, what's stopping them from creating better, more intelligent versions of themselves and create a cycle of self-improvement? Their level of intelligence will improve exponentially and may even find ways to overcome the reliance on humans. Creating self repairing and improving, automatic resource collecting and manufacturing machines will completely abolish the need for humans in the process. In fact, the machines may then calculate that humans are just a burden to the system and will be better off without them. (Terminators?) Once they surpass human intelligence, I believe that it would not be long before machines becomes the dominant form of sentient and self-aware being on the planet.