“There is a slim window of opportunity somewhere in the next fifty years when we will either create entities more capable than ourselves or become them. If we close off the paths to superhumanity, others will take them or create beings to fill those opening niches. If we halt human genetic engineering, if we ban research into brain-machine interfacing, if we outlaw smart drugs and place restraints on intellectual collectives, then something without those restraints will expand into those niches. And they are not the small closed niches, the crevices in rocks or dark undisturbed caves. The only equivalent in evolutionary terms is the colonisation of dry land thousands of millions of year ago. The landscapes beyond humanity are empty now. Whatever colonises them will face immense challenges but will also have the space to expand to become whatever it wants.” — Philip Tung Yep