The Good Robot

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The Good Robot

Dr Kerry McInerney and Dr Eleanor Drage

106 episodes

1 month ago

In this episode we talk to Nassim Parvin and Neda Atanasoski, the editors of the book Technocreep. We discuss what makes a technology creepy and the rise of so-called creepy technologies during COVID-19. Neda and Nassim argue that creepiness is associated with surveillance and that privacy is posited as the solution to so-called creepy tech. However, they highlight the way that race and gender have shaped who has the right to privacy and argue that we need to go beyond the privacy/surveillanc...

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In this episode we talk to Nassim Parvin and Neda Atanasoski, the editors of the book Technocreep. We discuss what makes a technology creepy and the rise of so-called creepy technologies during COVID-19. Neda and Nassim argue that creepiness is associated with surveillance and that privacy is posited as the solution to so-called creepy tech. However, they highlight the way that race and gender have shaped who has the right to privacy and argue that we need to go beyond the privacy/surveillanc...

Show more...

Episodes (20/106)

The Good Robot

Rethinking 'Creepy' Technology with Nassim Parvin and Neda Atanasoski

In this episode we talk to Nassim Parvin and Neda Atanasoski, the editors of the book Technocreep. We discuss what makes a technology creepy and the rise of so-called creepy technologies during COVID-19. Neda and Nassim argue that creepiness is associated with surveillance and that privacy is posited as the solution to so-called creepy tech. However, they highlight the way that race and gender have shaped who has the right to privacy and argue that we need to go beyond the privacy/surveillanc...

1 month ago

27 minutes

The Good Robot

Symbiosis From Bacteria to AI with N. Katherine Hayles

In this episode, we talk to N. Katherine Hayles who's the distinguished research professor at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and the James B. Duke Professor Emerita from Duke University. Her prolific research focuses on the relationship between science, literature and technology in the 20th and 21st centuries. We explore her newest book, Bacteria to AI: Human Futures with Our Nonhuman Symbionts, and discuss how the biological concept of symbiosis can inform the relationships ...

2 months ago

35 minutes

The Good Robot

Transhumanist Fantasies with Alexander Thomas

In this episode, Eleanor talks to Alexander Thomas, a filmmaker and academic who leads the BA in Media Production at the University of East London. They discuss his new book about transhumanism, a philosophical movement that aims to improve human capabilities through technology and whose followers includes Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Larry Page, and also apparently the DJ Steve Aoki. Alex is himself one of the foremost commentators on transhumanism. He explores transhumanist fantasies about the fu...

3 months ago

36 minutes

The Good Robot

Data Bodies and Arab Futurisms with Laila Shereen Sakr

In this episode, we talk to digital media theorist and artist Laila Shereen Sakr, who also performs under the name VJ Um Amel. We discuss her work making data about the outer world both visible and emotional. We explore what Laila calls the "surveyed and targeted Arab data body" and the incredible work she does creating Arab futuristic video games that both represent Arab cultures and project them into the future. We hope you enjoy the show.

3 months ago

25 minutes

The Good Robot

Managing the Body through Food Law and Policy with Kyla Wazana Tompkins

In this episode we talk to Kyla Wazana Tompkins, chair of the Department of Global Gender and Sexuality studies at the University of Buffalo. She gives incredible insight into the relationship between the history of science and the history of food law and policy. We look at legislation like the 1906 Food and Drug Act to examine how food policy shaped and was shaped by American ideas about race, national identity, and the body. From $40 LA smoothies to the fermentation practices of the Appalac...

4 months ago

38 minutes

The Good Robot

Re-imagining Voice Assistants with Stina Hasse Jørgensen and Frederik Juutilainen

To develop voice assistants like Siri and Alexa, companies spend years investigating what sounds like a human voice and what doesn't. But what we've ended up with is just one possibility of the kinds of voices that we could be interacting with. In this episode, we talked to sound engineer Frederik Juutilainen, and Assistant Professor at the University of Copenhagen, Stina Hasse Jørgensen, about their participation in [multi'vocal], an experimental research project that created an alternative ...

5 months ago

33 minutes

The Good Robot

Critiquing Tech through Comedy with Laura Allcorn

In this episode, we go shopping with artist and performer, Laura Allcorn. We enter into her practice, which is called the Institute for Comedic Inquiry, to learn how she pairs humour and entertainment with participatory public engagement methods to raise awareness about bizarre and dangerous uses of AI. Laura uses comedy to skewer all manner of ethically questionable technologies, from gait surveillance to shopping algorithms. We participate in one of Laura's performances in this episode, 'S...

6 months ago

32 minutes

The Good Robot

Surfing the Web in Sync with the Sun with Anne Pasek

In this episode, we talk to Anne Pasek, the Canada Research Chair in Media Culture and the Environment, and an Associate Professor between the Department of Cultural Studies and the School of the Environment at Trent University. We love Anne for lots of reasons, not least because she has a 50 watt solar panel, a little Raspberry Pi computer, and an acid battery, all in her backyard, hosting a server. Together we discuss pleasurable ways of responding to climate anxiety, what would happe...

7 months ago

28 minutes

The Good Robot

Using Feminist Chatbots to Fight Trolls With Sarah Ciston

In this episode, we talk to Sarah Ciston, an artist, coder, writer, and critical AI scholar. We asked Sarah to talk about this badass chatbot they created called Ladymouth, which responds to trolls and incels on hate forums. We discussed the difficult labor of content moderation and the long lasting effects of trying to do feminist work online. We also talk about the surprising things that incels and feminists have in common and whether you can use AI to change people's minds and establish co...

7 months ago

27 minutes

The Good Robot

Resisting Mental Health Ward Surveillance with Stop Oxevision

In this episode we talk to two activists, Hat and Nell, from the organisation Stop Oxevision, who are fighting against the rollout of surveillance technologies used on mental health wards in the United Kingdom (UK). We explore how surveillance on mental health wards affects patients who never know exactly when they're being watched, and how surveillance technologies in mental health wards are implemented within a much wider context of unequal power relationships. We also reflect on resistance...

8 months ago

30 minutes

The Good Robot

Lithium Extraction in the Atacama with Sebastián Lehuedé

In this episode, we talk to Sebastián Lehuedé, a Lecturer in Ethics, AI, and Society at King's College London. We talk about data activism in Chile, how water-intensive lithium extraction affects people living in the Atacama desert, the importance of reflexive research ethics, and an accidental Sunday afternoon shot of tequila.

8 months ago

31 minutes

The Good Robot

Machine Vision with Jill Walker Rettberg

In this episode, we talked to Jill Walker Rettberg, Professor of Digital Culture at the University of Bergen in Norway. In this wide-ranging conversation, we talk about machine vision's origins in polished volcanic glass, whether or not we'll actually have self-driving cars, and that famous photo-shopped Mother's Day Photo released by Kate Middleton in March, 2024.

8 months ago

23 minutes

The Good Robot

Art, Technology and Justice with Yasmine Boudiaf

In this episode, we talk to Yasmine Boudiaf, a researcher, artist and creative technologist who uses technology in beautiful and interesting ways to challenge and redefine what we think of as 'good'. We discuss her wide-ranging art projects, from using AI to create a library of Mediterranean hand gestures through to her project Ways of Machine Seeing, which explored how machine vision systems are being taught to 'see'. Throughout the episode, we explore how Yasmine creatively uses technology ...

9 months ago

31 minutes

The Good Robot

Gut Feminism and Feminist Approaches to Biology with Elizabeth Wilson

In this episode we talk to Elizabeth Wilson, a professor of gender, sexuality and women's studies at Emory University, a leading scholar on the intersections between feminism and biology, and the author of Gut Feminism. We talk about everything from what feminism can learn from biology to TERFs (trans exclusionary radical feminists), penises, Freud and technology. Note: this episode was recorded in Spring 2023.

9 months ago

35 minutes

The Good Robot

Janneke Parrish on Worker Solidarity and Why Tech Unions Matter

In this episode, we speak to Janneke Parrish, who's one of the co founders of Apple Together, a solidarity union at Apple. Apple fired Parrish on the 14th of October 2021. Since she's written an incredible book, continues to be an advisor to Apple together, and is now studying law. We talk about how Apple's culture of silence underlies its aim to surprise and delight the customer, how companies should listen to their workers, and how to be diplomatic and dignified in the face of a...

10 months ago

33 minutes

The Good Robot

Hot Take: Does AI Know How You Feel?

In this episode, we chat about coming back from summer break, and discuss a research paper recently published by Kerry and the AI ethicist and researcher Os Keyes called "The Infopolitics of Feeling: How race and disability are configured in Emotion Recognition Technology". We discuss why AI tools that promise to be able to read our emotions from our faces are scientifically and politically suspect. We then explore the ableist foundations of what used to be the most famous Emotion AI firm in ...

10 months ago

25 minutes

The Good Robot

The EU AI Act Part 2, with Amba Kak and Sarah Myers West from AI NOW

In this episode, we talk to Amba Kak and Sarah Myers West of the AI Now Institute, who are the co directors of this leading policy think tank. In the episode, which is the second installment of our EU AI Act series, Amba and Sarah explore why different tech policy narratives matter, the difference between the US and the EU regulatory landscape, why this idea that AI is simply outstripping regulation is an outdated maxim, and then finally, their policy wish list for 2024.

11 months ago

31 minutes

The Good Robot

The EU AI Act Part 1, with Caterina and Daniel from Access Now

In this episode, we talk to Daniel Leufer and Caterina Rodelli from Access Now, a global advocacy organization that focuses on the impact of the digital on human rights. As leaders in this field, they've been working hard to ensure that the European Union's AI Act doesn't undermine human rights or indeed fundamental democratic values. They share with us how the EU AI act was put together, the Act's particular downfalls, and where the opportunities are for us as citizens or as digital rights a...

11 months ago

36 minutes

The Good Robot

What on Earth Is Ethical Maths? with Maurice Chiodo

We often think that maths is neutral or can't be harmful, because after all, what could numbers do to hurt us? In this episode, we talk to Dr. Maurice Chiodo, a mathematician at the University of Cambridge, who's now based at the Center for Existential Risk. He tells us why maths can actually throw out big ethical issues. Take the atomic bomb or the maths used by Cambridge Analytica to influence the Brexit referendum or the US elections. Together, we explore why it's crucial that we understan...

1 year ago

38 minutes

The Good Robot

Can Technology Save us from Housework? with Helen Hester

This is a special live episode because Kerry is talking to Professor Helen Hester at the tech transformed conference in London. Helen is a leading thinker of feminism technology and the future of work, and she explores the history of domestic technologies- so technology used around the house. It's really important that we understand that technologies like the washing machine were actually not as liberatory for women as we'd like to think. In fact, they may have actually prevented women from r...

1 year ago

37 minutes