Super-Intelligent Machines: 7 Robotic Futures The Singularity & Artificial Intelligence

Once almost all tasks are outsourced to super-intelligence, humans may gradually lose the abilities that once defined Homo sapiens' smarts. In fact, some say the world is in the midst of the singularity already: Humans have already relinquished their ability to navigate, memorize and calculate, said Joan Slonczewski, a microbiologist at Kenyon College in Ohio. Scientists have even developed empathetic robots to do some of the most human tasks -- caring for the sick and elderly. In the end humans may become like mitochondria, the energy powerhouses of the cells. Though mitochondria were once independent organisms, primitive bacteria engulfed mitochondria long ago, and they gradually outsourced all their functions but making energy.