Indeed a timely article as we approach the impending singularity and Elon Musk has already made the decision to "run away" from these problems and abandon Earth for Mars asap. Is he right?
Should we be as fearful of the prospect of A.I. and/or robots becoming the Alpha lifeform on our planet within our lifetimes?
I think what your post sparks is the debate on what it now means to be "human".
For example, I am already a cyborg of sorts. I have two artificial lenses in my eyes, I am an enhanced human hybrid. Soon, actually already, prosthetic limbs are being 3-D printed. Developments at DARPA are astounding.
Virtual reality has arrived, and now, with Pokemon Go... Augmented reality is a very viable alternative.
A Digital overlay on our current "human" reality model.
I already envisage a future... very soon... within the next ten years at most, where you will be able to digitally enhance the view out of your window, (to change a rainy day to a sunny one for example), by digitally augmenting (upscaling of current Pokemon Go technology) said view.
Imagine the possibilities for enhancing your physical body. No more surgery, no more aging... simply digitally enhance the view of yourself and overlay it on the current reality model.
Maybe I am going off on a slight tangent, but I do not believe all robots to be/will be physical models.
My fear is twofold. One, akin to Elon Musk, that A.I. technology and advancements falls into the wrong hands or is controlled by a small elite for selfish purposes.
Secondly, that like a young child, we somewhat innocently and naively believe that an "older brother or sister" (superior A.I. lifeform) will play our game, by our rules, and somehow agree to let us win all the time.
I believe it is inevitable that to evolve as a species, we will increasingly need to "robotize" ourselves, and eventually pload our consciousness into non-biological "bodies". Why? As we continue to explore space, our present host biological bodies simply aren't up to the job.
Secondly, we have already arrived at "data shock"... 4 trillion webpages + How to assimilate this information?
Our current bodies are fantastic input devices... eyes and other senses processing millions of data per second... but our OUTPUT devices? WOEFUL! ... Consider the amount of time it is taking me to sit here and type this, or if we were face-to-face, to say it all. Our multi-tasking output capabilities in our current human form simply do not and cannot match the exponential growth of "input" content.
I suggest, for the survival and evolution of our species, robotic enhancement, by whatever means, is inevitable. Will it dehumanize us or will A.I. remain "benign" is another matter entirely.