Who is afraid of the Cheerful Robot? This question echoes through the lecture of Dr. C. Wright Mills who invited his 1958 audience to reflect upon the danger and hubris of science as an engine for societal annihilation. In this commentary, we start by discussing the fears pointed to by Mills, going back and forth between the canvas of his time and the landscape of ours. Then, we highlight the societal status quo that Mills denounced in his lecture and the related challenges of environmental exploitation, rampant consumerism, and technological development that demonstrates rationality without reason. Finally, we open a discussion about the sociological solutions outlined by Mills, reflecting on his ideas in view of our numerous contemporary crises and the role played by creativity in creating and in solving these challenges. This commentary, much as the original talk, is an invitation to change our practices, to cultivate our reflexivity, and to move towards and ethos of “Creative Preservation”.