"The Singularity"

My view is different from those who believe in "the singularity."  For me the question is more: "can mankind survive long enough to create independent mechanical life?" This should be one of our goals as a civilization. By "independent mechanical life" I mean mechanical life (see my 19 Oct. 2010 and 30 July 2011 blog posts) that can continue on after we humans have gone extinct.