# Humanity Could Be Superseded by Its Own Creatures by Samuel Butler > "We must choose between the alternative of undergoing much present suffering, or seeing ourselves gradually superseded by our own creatures, till we rank no higher in comparison with them, than the beasts of the field with ourselves." > **— Samuel Butler's Erewhonian professor**, *1872, Erewhon, Chapter XXIV* ## Sources and Context - **Full source:** [Samuel Butler, Erewhon, “The Book of the Machines”](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1906/pg1906-images.html). The fictional professor presents a stark choice between immediate abolition and later displacement. The speaker is a fictional character in Butler's novel; the author stages more than one position. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Article:** [[articles/AI Escape Is the Wrong Metaphor|AI Escape Is the Wrong Metaphor]] - **Article:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] - **Article:** [[articles/Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta|Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Civilizational Handoff|Civilizational Handoff]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Erewhon|Erewhon]] - [[wiki/Civilizational Handoff|Civilizational Handoff]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "We must choose between the alternative of undergoing much present suffering, or seeing ourselves gradually superseded by our own creatures, till we rank no higher in comparison with them, than the beasts of the field with ourselves." — Samuel Butler's Erewhonian professor, 1872, Erewhon, Chapter XXIV https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-butler-superseded-own-creatures ```