Wellesley High graduation Faculty Speech: ‘I am scared of robots’

The 2024 Wellesley High School graduation Faculty Speech, delivered by Dr. Stephanie Cacace, social studies teacher.

To Dr. Lussier, Dr. Chisum, Mr. Kelton, Ms. Matloff, and Mr. Shattuck

To members of the school committee…

To the faculty of Wellesley High School….

To the friends and family of our graduates…

And most importantly, to the graduates, the class of 2024, thank you for inviting me to speak to you this afternoon….

Franklin Roosevelt once said that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. But there is something else that we have to fear and that is robots.

I am scared of robots.

Wall-E, Baymax, Vicky from that 80s show Small Wonder. Hell even a roomba scares me–I mean what kind of monster spends all day vacuuming?

What scares me is their inexhaustibility. Their capacity to persist in one singular task endlessly. Do a rote act over and over without fault, complaint, or ailment. Humans don’t have that kind of steadfastness. We are a species of slackers, giving up when things get too routine, too mundane, too boring.

So when the robots start to multiply, mobilize, and plan their domination over us we appear to be screwed. And like some luddite Paul Revere, I am here to warn you that the robots are coming! The robots are coming!

And now that you are a high school graduate they are coming for you.

They are coming for your job. Automation threatens virtually all professions. Robots can do everything from give manicures to assist in military operations.

They are coming for your art. AI can write short stories, generate artistic images, and even compose songs.

They are coming for our relationships. You can now date avatars or exchange romantic texts with a chat bot.

So you better get ready. Bot battle is about to go down.

But here’s the thing. Maybe us humans can actually win this battle. Yes, we are often weak and lazy, but there is one weapon that humans have in the struggle against the mechanical death horde and that is idealism.

Robots are efficient and utilitarian. They do work and make things. But humans have vision, aspirations, and hopes. Robots do, but humans dream.

All great historical accomplishments were made possible not just by human labor but by human ingenuity and creativity. The Great Wall of China, the Sistine Chapel, the Internet. What is impressive about humans isn’t just that we built these things, but that we thought them up in the first place.

You are a generation about to head out into a world of artificial intelligence in which robots can do most of the work humans once did. And maybe that is ok. Robots can be the source of our liberation from the drudgery that has characterized most of the human experience across history.

So use robots, but use them in the service of human idealism. Use AI to design better lessons and curriculum materials to improve our schools. Use robotics to perfect surgical techniques that can help save lives. Use eco-friendly technologies to build sustainable climates.

The robots are coming, but we shouldn’t be afraid. Turns out, robots don’t have to be the harbingers of dystopia. Directed by human idealism, they can be the builders of utopia. Remember, in the Wizard of Oz, the one thing the Tin Man wanted was a heart. And that’s what you have. As you now go out into our brave new world, use your heart, your creativity, and your optimism to design technologies that not only do the work of society, but help us build new and better societies.

Just don’t forget to leave the roomba alone, who wants to vacuum anyway?

More: Cacace’s 2015 Faculty Speech: ‘Life’s unfair, so do something about it’

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