Is ET what we may become?

SOME BELIEVE that by mid-century computers or its machine variants will become at least as intelligent as humans. They may even go all Skynet on us and become self-aware (hopefully without the Terminator-style malevolence). Fantasy? Perhaps. But it is not as fanciful as we might imagine given the breakneck speed of advances in technology. Think about it. We went from the first IBM PCs and floppy disks to today's iPhones and 256-gigabyte thumb-drives in 30 years, less than half a lifetime. As computing devices get smaller and smarter, there's no reason to think that we won't incorporate them into our bodies and brains to improve and extend our lives in the future. Will this inevitable blurring of man and machine constitute the next logical step in human evolution? It doesn't strike me as far-fetched. And if that is the future, our common notions about advanced extraterrestrial beings, if they exist, are completely wrong. They certainly won't look like your standard Roswell "alien." Nor will they resemble Yoda, Predator or the "Prawns" of District 9. No, ET will likely be an intricate synthesis of alien biology and machine. In fact, cybernetically speaking, they may not be so unlike us ― or rather what we could become, in a century or two.