ArtsCommission.org

This past October, George Philips, president of SUNY New York, announced his decision to elimiate five important departments in the humanities: French, Italian, Russian, Classics and Theater Arts, citing these departments as not bringing in enough money for the university. In response to this decision, Gregory A. Petsko, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Brandeis University wrote a brilliant and passionate letter to Philips.

The following was written in response to Bill Joy's 2005 essay Why the future doesn't need us. Our most powerful 21st-century technologies - robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech - are threatening to make humans an endangered species..