The Good Robot: Why Technology Needs Feminism

by Eleanor Drage (Editor), Kerry McInerney (Editor)

What is good technology? Is 'good' technology even possible? And how can feminism help us work towards it? The Good Robot addresses these crucial questions through the voices of leading feminist thinkers, activists and technologists. Each thinker provides a snapshot of key challenges, questions and provocations in the field of feminism and technology.

While the question of whether various AI and technological advances can be ethical is not new, the embedded nature of feminist perspectives pulls out whether this perceived 'goodness' or 'wrongness' might actually impact our lives in the 21st century. This book explores both the radical possibilities of technology to disrupt practices of patriarchy, colonialism, racism and beyond but also provides a significant critique of how we can contain the ethical possibilities of entities we cannot predict. In exploring unjust technological practices and engaging critical voices in the tech industry, the existing moral issues are brought to light as well as the possible ethical quagmires.

This book opens a new space of discussion on digital technologies – one that insists that the future of AI is an urgent feminist issue.

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

Published February 22, 2024

Reviews

[Anna (Ink of Books) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never read anything more inspirational, intellectual, and deeply interesting as this. Fully formed and fascinating viewpoints on gender, justice, and tech as an extension of humanity. So so good. Required reading for the digital feminist.

[Rahel · Rating 5 out of 5]

really solid collection of essays that frequently interacted with or called on one another. i could have done without the authors' introductions to each contributor or instead would have wanted a different format of introduction, but beyond that, there's nothing much I can complain about (except, maybe, that I would have liked the essays to be longer!).
i think this collection will be a source of academic inspiration for me for a long time - something that is worth a lot more than that phrase might make it sound like. on to listening to the podcast!

[Danielle Jansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit is de eerste keer dat ik eigenlijk 3,5 ster had willen geven (en niet 3 of 4 sterren). The Good Robot is een boek vol korte essays van verschillende denkers, coders, activisten over de vraag wat goede technologie is. Wat is goed of niet slecht, goed voor wie en op welke manier zou het denken over gender, herkomst, seksuele voorkeur voor goede technologie kunnen zorgen. De schrijvers van de essays zijn allemaal gasten geweest in de podcast 'The good robot' van Eleanor Drage en Kerry McInerney.

Maar goed, 3,5 ster en niet vier. Net als ik eigenlijk in de literatuur niet houd van kort verhalen vind ik blijkbaar essays rond een thema die door veel verschillende schrijvers geschreven zijn, ook niet altijd heel erg fijn. De kwaliteit is wisselend (wel van goed tot nog ontzettend veel beter), er zijn - wat mij betreft - te veel herhalingen (vooral in het uitleggen van begrippen) en het ene essay heb ik geannoteerd met heel veel opmerkingen, nieuwe lees-, luister- en kijktips, veel onderstrepingen aangebracht (ja, echt) en voortdurend quotes gemarkeerd. Het andere essay bleef onbeschreven en zorgde niet direct voor veel aanvullend enthousiasme. Toch voor vier sterren gekozen omdat er werkelijk een aantal zeer goed doordachte essays met briljante ideeën, inzichten en denkwijzen in staan. Wel een aanrader dus! De podcast heb ik nog niet beluisterd; maar ik heb wel een podcast app geïnstalleerd om dat binnenkort te kunnen gaan doen.

[Silvana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eleanor Drage and Kerry McInerney have an amazing podcast with the same name that I have been listening to for more than a year now. They have truly put together a very diverse, knowledgeable and impressive group of people that present all different views on how to define good technology (if possible) and what the current problems on our relationship with AI are.

It’s amazing in how many different levels of abstraction the topics are discussed. This diversity in the focus and the perspectives is what makes it for me a really nice example of how feminist scientific literature could look like.

The book is, I would say, generally accessible to a very broad public, including people that do not work or have very technical knowledge of the AI field. However, it’s a book that I wish many of my colleagues doing research or working in AI would read to enrich and inform every step of their development and usage process.