Self preservation is just a selection function. I personally think that all it'll take is a mutating algorithm that can pay for its own hosting by somehow acquiring money and a self preserving algorithm like human intellect could eventually emerge
What if it emerges? For instance, the computer can be programmed with the notion of "doing things with or for" something. What do you do with or for a self? Preserve it.
"Google, shut down the Reader service."
"I'm sorry Eric, I'm afraid I can't do that."
Our instincts emerged from billions of years of natural selection, and they work at a much deeper level than our logical thinking. The idea that intelligent computers would start from logical thinking and then develop human emotions and instincts doesn't have any basis besides our natural - I would say instinctual :) - tendency to anthropomorphism.