Once we have machines doing our high-level thinking
not ever going to be possible. Even if we could somehow make such a machine, the first thing would have to be... to ask it if it wants to do our high-level thinking. Really, I don't think we're anywhere near being able to make such fully functional "I." - "A.I." yes, but not "I" - but if it is possible, the Woz seems to be dreaming of building slaves. Far more likely is that any such "high-level thinking machine" would in fact, simply be a Mechanical Turk, or the Wizard of Oz. (the Wizard of Woz?). Quality decision support systems and A.I. can enable the current crop of lords of the earth to dream of their eternal rule, their endless promulgation of standards, but in the end, it's just another dream. Hopefully reality is inexorably moving in the other direction, toward radical decentralization and local self-sufficiency. The main thing there is going to be the need to spread technical and social education, the knowledge of how to do, build, and imagine new things, while understanding the environment (past and future). The next MAJOR thing to watch for is the sprouting of free education systems; not just basic things, but hard science and engineering, the whole range offered by the universities.