Vernor Vinge and others have talked frequently about the technological singularity that is supposedly just around the corner. The idea is that humanity and/or its machines will eventually devise ways to increase intelligence, which will in turn facilitate evolution to an even higher level of intelligence. And so on. Eventually we could reach a point where civilization is as incomprehensible to us as our current civilization is to a chimp.  
 
Personally, I think this is a bunch of hooey. Most people have no desire to meet their super-intelligent robotic superiors. Nor do they want to increase their own intelligence. Of course, that may be because most people are idiots. It's hard to convince an idiot that he's an idiot.