Just the other day, a friend was talking to me about how in the next twenty years, robots will be replacing all sorts of human jobs. Jobs that pay less, which are ironically usually the jobs that require human interaction, will be replaced by robots in the coming years.

But while you may not be meeting any human fast-food workers in the near future, one thing that I realized is that no matter how much we advance as a society, there is one role that can never truly be replaced by robots: artist.

Artists are important to us because they are the ones who depict our human experience. Authors write the experiences of our lives, musicians play our feelings, artists paint our visions, and so on.

All of these roles can never be replaced by a robot because, the one thing that robots will never truly be able to understand is human emotion.

Yes, they are able to recognize it. If you have ever taken a psychology course then you probably understand that human facial expression is pretty easy to pinpoint. Nowadays there are robots that are made to recognize human expressions and are programmed to respond to them in appropriate ways.

However, no matter how many signals we teach these robots (facial expression, inflection of voice, body movement, etc.) these robots can never produce them on their own in a relatable manner.

One of the most rewarding aspects of being alive is that we can understand our emotions and act on them in a conscious way. We can take those emotions and delve into why we feel them. Artists take the emotions that they feel and they translate them into art.

A dancer may take any personal turmoil they are feeling and turn it into a beautiful dance. Painters may take any frustrations they have with their current political atmosphere and make it into a piece of art. Writers may craft stories from personal experiences, but give them universal meaning.

The role of artists is to create something that can be related to by a majority of people, but the catch is that most great artists make us aware of things that we have not fully realized yet about ourselves.

The greatest artists change the way that our society thinks, and robots cannot think for themselves. Robots can not look at something they have created and realize that it may need a different touch to make it look better. Robots cannot understand what it means to be human.

Even as certain artistic fields begin to incorporate computers more and more, it is still the photographer who chooses when to take a picture. It is still the producer who chooses what beats to compose their song with. We will always need those human senses to make those decisions.

So, as we enter a world that feels as if it’s slowly being replaced by computers, our need for artists grows stronger each and every day.

Therefore, when President Donald Trump proposed eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, I felt truly horrified.

While these two programs take only a small portion of our nation’s dollars, they are vital to keeping our artistic world alive. Without these programs, we would lose much of what keeps this nation great. Museums, music halls, theatres, and many other institutions would be devastated without this funding and our country would lose two very important programs.

As someone who has always received a humanities-style education, I am an avid supporter of a well-rounded education. Meanwhile, I am also very adamant about supporting the arts.

Without art, our world would be boring. It would be plain. It would be empty and sad.

No one is ever going to love every piece of art they find. Typically, you’re not supposed to love every piece of art you see. Art is supposed to challenge you. Yet, while you may not love all of it, that does not mean it shouldn’t be supported.

We should be living in a nation where artists are encouraged to perfect their craft. No one should be afraid to pursue their passions because they’re worried they won’t be able to fund it. No one should avoid following what they are best at because they feel they will not be supported.

Recently, many politicians have been fighting against this proposal, and I hope they continue to do so. If these two programs are eliminated, the effect will be felt negatively throughout our entire nation.