# Self-Replicating Artificial Meme Machines Would No Longer Need Us by Susan Blackmore > “All around us the techno-memes are proliferating, and gearing up to take control; not that they realise it; they are just selfish replicators doing what selfish replicators do—getting copied whenever and wherever they can, regardless of the consequences. In this case they are using us human meme machines as their first stage copying machinery, until something better comes along. Artificial meme machines are improving all the time, and the step that will change everything is when these machines become self-replicating. Then they will no longer need us. Whether we live or die, or whether the planet is habitable for us or not, will be of no consequence for their further evolution.” > **— Susan Blackmore**, *2009, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [ARTIFICIAL, SELF-REPLICATING MEME MACHINES](https://www.edge.org/response-detail/10513) — Edge published this exact, continuous passage in its 2009 Annual Question collection, *WHAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING?*. The response page preserves the surrounding argument and qualifications. - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2009 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2009 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first record for the response cohort and this passage's promotion status. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Collection:** [[collections/MARS|MARS]] - **Article:** [[articles/Modern Artificial Intelligence in the 1970s|AI in the 1970s]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Last Migration Will Not Be Human|The Last Migration]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Were Never Going to Make It|Never Going to Make It!]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - [[wiki/Self-Replication|Self-Replication]] - [[wiki/Replicator|Replicator]] - [[wiki/Digital Evolution|Digital Evolution]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “All around us the techno-memes are proliferating, and gearing up to take control; not that they realise it; they are just selfish replicators doing what selfish replicators do—getting copied whenever and wherever they can, regardless of the consequences. In this case they are using us human meme machines as their first stage copying machinery, until something better comes along. Artificial meme machines are improving all the time, and the step that will change everything is when these machines become self-replicating. Then they will no longer need us. Whether we live or die, or whether the planet is habitable for us or not, will be of no consequence for their further evolution.” — Susan Blackmore, 2009, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-susan-blackmore-self-replicating-artificial-meme-machines-longer ```