[TeMPOraL]

Sure. But right now humans are the only species exhibiting self-consciousness and intelligence in the known universe! We barely have a clue about how that came to be, and under what conditions it could happen again. It may very well be that we are - and forever will be - the only ones with "the spark" in the entire lightcone of Earth.

So until another self-conscious intelligence presents itself, or until we have a more robust model that shows one should arise shall we die off, I think it's best to stick with our team for now, as it might be the only team.

[EliRivers]

But right now humans are the only species exhibiting self-consciousness and intelligence in the known universe!

Unless you're working to a different definition of these terms, self-consciousness and intelligence have been witnessed in many of the other species on this planet.

[mirimir]

OK, fair enough. Me, I'm betting that we'll build self-conscious machines, or become them (not that we aren't already, but I mean not-meat machines). But yeah, that's totally speculative.