In many such stories, humans push robots toward self-actualization.
In the other, Pat Shipman, an independent scientist and writer, suggests that dogs may have helped modern humans push the Neanderthals out of existence and might even have helped shape human evolution.
Outside the moral dilemma of extinction, there is no question that if humans push more-and-more species into oblivion there will be impacts on our society – and they could become catastrophic.
They will not only work alongside astronauts as humans push out across the Solar System, it is highly likely they will lead the way.
In a video that similar to those videos where humans push around ATLAS, researchers at Delft University of Technology have created a system that will let a quadrotor drone keep flying even if one of the propellers is broken.
The first occurred in the late Pleistocene, when modern humans pushed out from Southeast Asia into the realm of 'Greater Australia' and beyond into the Bismarck and Solomon Islands archipelagoes.
"A classic tale of humans pushing hard against nature and nature pushing back," says New York Times columnist Timothy Egan, who authored the book, "The Dust Bowl".
It was only a few years ago that a strident denier of climate change who mocked the idea of humans pushing temperatures higher represented the congressional district that stretches into what Floridians fondly call their Treasure Coast.
Though speculation and hyperbole will surely continue as the price inevitably waxes and wanes, the technology, infrastructure and tenacious group of humans pushing this thing forward aren't simply going to stop.
