Yes I feel emphatic too when I see a beetle on its back but eventually it will get on its feet again with the help of its six limbs.
The world is changing and maybe in the future we can only see food animals while others get extinct.
We might also see an innovation on how they control flooding and such urban-related problems but I think it will only happen in the future. @lightsplasher
Sometimes it feels like things are slow to change. From my understanding though there will need to be a very fast change in the way things are done in the next decade or so. I think this is very possible when you think about how fast things went from the horse and buggy days to cars zipping all over the place in one decade.
Yes, There is even a rumor that AI could take over the world.
Doubtful if you ask me. From what I have seen AI is more like an advanced multivariate statistical design experiment on steroids. Garbage in -> garbage out. Intelligence is over rated in terms of 'taking over the world' imho. To do that I think you need some maniacal component and it takes some human frailties to do that. Beside what on earth would AI do with 'the world' anyway? lol.
Personally I wouldn't mind being ruled by some non self-serving neutral algorithmic process. It might be a cut above some of the corruption we see in some places nowadays.