When I was a kid my parents took my sister and I to Autoworld in
Flint, Michigan. It was supposed to be an amusement park
dedicated to educating the world on the importance and
innovation of the auto industry. One of the first things
visitors saw upon entering the complex was a robot that welcomed
you to the “wonderful world of automated assembly,” which was
transforming the way we built cars in America. I vividly
remember my dad leaning down to whisper in my ear, “Yeah, and I
wonder how the guys that’s putting out of work feel about it?”
In this hyper-connected technology age it’s hard to imagine a
time when people were afraid of robots, but they were. We were.
Maybe not afraid like we’re afraid of nuclear Armageddon, but
there was certainly anxiety there and uncertainty in regard to
who would be in control if and when the robots got as smart as
their human masters. That’s the theme of this short film created
for The Bell System by Jim Henson in 1963 and unearthed by the
AT&T Archives. While lacking in subtl