All School Meeting was abruptly halted last Friday as protesters flooded from their chapel seats to the stage. Armed with megaphones, they loudly rebuked…robot mistreatment? Fortunately, these students, including myself, were not actually protesters, but instead the cast of the Theatre & Dance Play Production (THD921) play, “Rossum’s Universal Robots” (R.U.R.).
R.U.R is a play written in 1921 by Czech playwright Karel Čapek, famous for introducing the term “robot” into modern-day terminology (funnily enough, it stemmed from the Czech word “robota,” which means “forced labor”). In essence, “R.U.R” explores a world where human labor is replaced by sentient “robots,” and the circumstances driving them to an eventual uprising. The version we were performing had been adapted to fit modern times by Dr. Natalya Baldyga, a History and Theatre teacher at PA. I still remember sitting around a table with the rest of the cast, doing the very first read-through of the script, and thinking: ‘Is this really a century-old play?’ “R.U.R.” opened my eyes to how long certain questions had been plaguing humanity. For example, is the pursuit of knowledge and progress eventually going to turn against us? A main concern raised within the play is whether this relief of the burden of hard labour is liberating mankind, or is dooming it to regress.
Now, a century later, Čapek’s play is read through a very different lens. Dr. Rossum’s fictional man-made intelligence has been dragged out of the realm of science fiction and taken its baby steps into reality. Although we don’t have a robot workforce, the emergence of accessible artificial intelligence has sent ripples across communities, ranging from schools panicking over students using chatbots dishonestly to individuals concerned about the futures of their careers.
The impacts of artificial intelligence are complicated. In the academic setting alone, it has provided a lot of convenience. Students can now use generative chatbots as a tool to enhance and further personalize their learning, such as ChatGPT to explain concepts in confusing topics or provide feedback on writing. Teachers, too, use generative AI to create quizzes and lesson plans based on an outline that they provide. However, there is another side to this coin: students can use generative AI to create work that they then submit as their own. This practice is blatantly academically dishonest and defeats the learning experience of doing that work in the first place. It is surprisingly like the issue raised in “R.U.R.”, and an issue that constantly returns to us at any technological revolution: is artificial intelligence a tool to support our learning and development, or is it a crutch that will hinder our ability to think and act without it?
The initial response of academic communities towards chatbots is understandable: panic, and attempt to shut it down. However, despite all the negatives to chatbots, I don’t believe that it’s neither right nor is it plausible to eliminate artificial intelligence from the academic setting. Though the future is cloudy, it’s clear that artificial intelligence isn’t going away anytime soon, and we must learn to adapt to it. I believe that promoting understanding and conversation is integral to adapting to rapidly changing technologies. Firstly, adaptation cannot happen without understanding what we are adapting to. There should be more of an emphasis on educating teachers and students alike on how chatbots and other such artificial intelligence work, removing the mystery and misconceptions around generative AI. Additionally, every individual has different perspectives and views on artificial intelligence. A teacher’s opinions on artificial intelligence will differ from those of a student, and no perspective is better than another. For our community to develop fair stances and policies on artificial intelligence, communication and compromise are essential.
What better way to inspire thought and promote meaningful conversation than through stories? Performing arts, fine arts, and creative writing, are all forms of storytelling. Historically, humans have been attracted to stories because of their ability to speak not only to the mind but the heart. Stories have the power to shape the views of a community, and stories stick with us. They linger, whether we notice or not, widening our perspectives and reappearing in our day-to-day conversations. They linger, even after a century, because they speak to a cross-section between our logic and our imagination, as we look to interpret the past and piece together the future. They linger because they ask questions that have always been relevant and will always remain relevant, from the past to the present to the future.
Stories have historically been used to raise awareness, spark conversation, and comment on the state of the world, and “R.U.R.” is no different. Although “R.U.R.” is a century old, the play, along with many other stories, is especially important in our modern times. Our THD921 rehearsals are filled to the brim with conversations birthed from this science-fiction tale, that branch out to current affairs, academic behaviors in the context of artificial intelligence, and so much more! This play will encourage discourse surrounding the way our academic community and society are adapting to improved technologies, and hopefully inspire a chain of more perspectives, more conversation, and more stories.
