A proposition

When the first humanoid robots finally hit the market, the initial fear was they would somehow go rogue and cut a swath of destruction in neighborhoods everywhere whenever they malfunctioned. These fears proved to be unfounded, as the robots that were built had a very low failure rate, and even when there were problems they largely would just stop functioning. So the robots became more and more popular, in industry and in the home. They were very adept at performing tasks, never needed breaks or rest and showed no signs of wear and tear.

As time wore on, they became so ubiquitous it was impossible to find any home or business not staffed by robots, and so society began to schism more and more. Without the need for actual workers in their facilities, large and then small companies started to lay off employees left and right. Why employ dozens of men to build a car when five robots can do it nonstop for free?

Eventually, governments and companies found it impossible to perpetuate their economies and the whole concept of money began to erode badly. Nobody had any need for employees (except repairmen at first, until eventually there were enough robots to repair themselves) and nobody had much use for employment either. Why work when you could send your robot in your place? Service industries and retail began to erode, as people no longer had any need of either. Nobody paid taxes any more and governments had no people to collect them. Economies fell into deep decline.

Some at first were optimistic that the lack of an economic system would mean a new utopia would arise, one in which people could live in comfort and security, contemplate and create art and no one would be shut out due to economic factors. Sadly, this proved not to be the case. First, health began to erode badly, as it was unnecessary to perform even the most trivial of tasks yourself. This naturally engendered a laziness that degraded their desire to be educated; why know anything yourself when you can ask a machine?

So humans became both mentally and physically sluggish and lived in increasing isolation. The population began to plummet and dwindle off to near extinction. Humankind had by that point become so docile, pale and doughy that they scarcely even noticed. The last human being died of heart failure brought on from eating a triple cheeseburger. He was 25.

The robots, without thought, continued to clean and construct and maintain, oblivious to the humanless Earth. One day they would all cease to function, and the planet would fall quiet.

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The being found the strange note scrawled on some sort of electronic read out. He wondered what it said, or if they were even words and not some primitive type of pictures. It looked like nothing to him. Still, he would bring it back for inspection. Maybe someone would be able to make sense of it.