Robots Can’t Replace Humans

Humanity was warned: science might one day outstrip the intellect that created it. The trope of man versus machine, once confined to science fiction, seemingly unfolds before us—a paradoxical blend of utopia and apocalypse. The age of man yields to the rule of algorithms, as Cortana, Siri, and Alexa threaten to outthink the very minds that coded them. This is a form of digital imperialism: a sleek, seductive empire promising convenience, while quietly colonizing the human experience.

The rise of artificial intelligence has been met with equal parts anticipation and unease. As the year of our Lord 2023 began, few could have predicted that, by its end, platforms like ChatGPT would have upended the global landscape. Virtually overnight, AI reshaped industries, collapsed the distance between reality and idealism, and inaugurated a new mode of thinking—and working.

For many, the promise of efficiency masks a looming crisis: the fear that AI will render vast swaths of human labor obsolete. Machines, after all, don’t sleep, strike, or complain—and they can produce in seconds what once took hours. This fear is not unfounded. Across sectors, tasks once considered uniquely human are being quietly delegated to code. Yet not all are alarmed. For those who grasp the dignity of being truly human, the rise of artificial intelligence poses no existential threat.

“If your education simply qualified you in certain professional skills, the robots are coming for your job. Imagine the surgeon who spent over twenty years in an education pipeline, solely to be prepared to provide a function that robots will do better. If you can’t point to something greater than a vocational certification your education is on the verge of becoming obsolete.” - Dr. Ben Merkle

Earlier this week, Dr. Ben Merkle, President of New Saint Andrews College, offered a pointed reflection in response to Elon Musk’s endorsement of a post celebrating robots’ growing ability to perform high-risk surgeries with surgical precision. Merkle’s comments reframed the conversation, underscoring the telos of Christian liberal arts education: not job placement, but the formation of virtuous, culture-shaping souls. Education, rightly conceived, is about enculturation in the ways of wisdom—learning to live a life wholly pleasing to God. Such training produces leaders who think ethically and broadly, build diligently and beautifully, and walk with courage, joy, and hope. In contrast, vocational training often reduces men to the status of machines—programmed for narrow utility, yet morally inert. Robots may master process, but they remain morally mute and incompetent to build civilization. The task of shaping culture belongs not to code, but to those made in the image of God.

Next week, students at New Saint Andrews College sit for their final exams, capping off another year of rigorous academic formation. These examinations—both written and oral—probe more than mere intellectual retention; they assess the students’ capacity to apply wisdom, to articulate truth with eloquence, and to embody virtue. They are not cramming facts to earn a license for narrowly defined careers. They are being shaped to be fully human—redeemed image-bearers equipped to subdue the earth, exercise dominion, and be fruitful in every sphere of life. These students are being trained to create jobs, not just fill them; to lead with discernment, not follow with naïveté; to pursue excellence across domains, not merely within vocational silos. Quite simply, robots are no match for this kind of human. And the economy—indeed, the world—is hungry for precisely this sort of graduate.