What on Earth could someone possibly be thinking, when they propose creating a superintelligence whose behaviors are reinforced by human smiles?

Wiring almost anything about today's humans into a proposed long-term utility function seems rather obviously dangerous. Keeping unmodified humans around would cripple our civilisation's spaceworthyness - and would probably eventually lead to our distant descendants being smothered by aliens who didn't have such a limited and backwards notion of what's actually important.

Humans should probably not be allowed to persist for too long past their sell-by date - or they may fill the whole planet with the foul stench of their excrement. Fortunately, it doesn't seem like a likely outcome. Our main asset is our brains - and, fairly soon, that asset will be practically worthless.