Who dominates the destiny of the world, humans or artificial intelligence (AI)? This question strikes at the very heart of contemporaryhumanity’s existential anxieties about its future. If we want to seriouslyconsider whether or not unfriendly AI ‘neurons’ pose any threat to humancivilisation and humanity’s continual existence and evolution in the Universe, we need to know as much as possible about the Universe in whichwe find ourselves, our place in it, and what cognition, consciousness andmentality really are.How might we combine philosophical, cognitive science and technological perspectives, to explore the evolving relationship between humansand AI, in order to engage and address the questions at the core of thishuman-AI complex, namely the future of civilisation — what will it looklike, who can claim to be our successors, towards what goals and ends?The evolution and development of human cognition as well as the emergence of AI can help us define these potential paths of future development.Where do we stand today, in relation to our own history and developmentand to the possibilities that artificial intelligence can offer us? The essayexplores the ethical, social and existential questions that arise from theincreasing automation of artificial intelligence and how it relates to thestory of humanity, from its origins to its contemporary cultural expression.