The Good Robot

Why is public health struggling to make its technologies good?In this episode, Yale public health scholar and medical anthropologist Chelsey R. Carter joins Eleanor Drage to explore the technologies of public health. They discuss how eye-gaze devices can help people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) communicate, and why assistive technology can fail when users don’t receive the training and support they need. Chelsey also tells us about racial bias in neurological care that National Football League (NFL) players receive after injuries, and shares how the Black Genome Project approaches representation and lived experience in genomics. From COVID-19 and public health policy to precision medicine and the ethics of health technology, this conversation asks who benefits from innovation, and what it takes to make healthcare more equitable. Essential listening for anyone interested in disability justice, Black health, medical anthropology, health equity, and the relationship between technology, race, and care.Reading List:Chelsey’s websiteThe Difference of Black ALS Anti-Bodies for SurvivalWeathering Anti-BlacknessPriorities and Recommendations to Make ALS a Livable Disease Emanating from the 2024 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Report Living with ALSAre diverse databases actually creating equity in genomics?Hope tempered by caution: Public beliefs in the United States about the benefits and drawbacks of using epigenetic technologies in clinical care.Interpersonal associations in mental health outcomes of people living with ALS, caregivers, and dyads: Implications for the role of cliniciansExamining relationships between multifactorial health beliefs and beliefs about the social implications of geneticsThe Difference of Black ALS Anti‐Bodies for SurvivalAnti‐Bodies, Anti‐Body: A Black Feminist Call and Response: IntroductionSt. Louis enhancing engagement and retention (STEER) in HIV/AIDS care: a participatory intersectional needs assessment for intervention and implementation planningStrengthening the US Health Workforce to End the HIV Epidemic: Lessons Learned From 11 EHE JurisdictionsPatients as knowledge partners in the context of complex chronic conditionsQualitative and Mixed Methods Research in Cardiovascular Care: Opportunities in the Coming DecadesPsychological distress and life satisfaction among Black working adults in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemicPast Is Prologue: Dismantling Colonial Legacies to Advance Black Health Equity in the United States“They need people to actually show up in their lives:” deploying community health workers to improve mental health and substance use outcomes among PLWHThe Weather of Anti-Blackness: Is Health Equity Enough?Inclusive Recruitment Strategies to Maximize Sociodemographic Diversity among Participants: A St. Louis Case StudyGaslighting: ALS, anti‐Blackness, and medicineEdited by: Meibel Dabodabo

Cassandra Hartblay, an anthropologist, writer, playwright, and author, explores disability and accessible design in contemporary Russia. They discuss ramps as transformative everyday technology, advocacy through shared infrastructure, and why accessibility requires ongoing maintenance rather than checklists. The conversation also examines Sochi’s failed promise, humor as political critique, disability and war, and the pursuit of freedom in inaccessible cities.

What does it mean to care for people and worlds that cannot simply be “fixed”? In Part 2 of this conversation, Eleanor Drage speaks with Kelly Fritsch and Anne McGuire, authors of Broken Worlds, Disabled Kin: Strategies for Collective Survival, about disability justice, collective care, maintenance, palliation, reproductive technology, and risk.They explore how mutual aid and disability culture offer alternatives to social abandonment, why palliation can help us live with loss and uncertainty, and how ideas about genetic and psychiatric risk can reinforce ableism and eugenic thinking. The episode asks how we can move beyond “fixing” individual bodies toward building more accessible, supportive, and just worlds.Reading List:Broken Worlds, Disabled Kin: Strategies for Collective Survival by  Kelly Fritsch & Anne McGuire“Crip Technoscience Manifesto” by  Aimi Hamraie & Kelly Fritsch “Crip Technoscience” by  Kelly Fritsch and Suze BerkhoutWar on Autism: On the Cultural Logic of Normative Violence by Anne McGuire Disability Injustice: Confronting Criminalization in Canada edited by Kelly Fritsch and colleaguesEdited by: Meibel Dabodabo

What does it mean to live in a world that is already broken, and what can disability justice teach us about creating more livable futures? In this episode of The Good Robot, Eleanor Drage speaks with Kelly Fritsch and Anne McGuire, authors of Broken Worlds, Disabled Kin: Strategies for Collective Survival, about disability, technology, accessibility, care, maintenance, and collective survival.They explore how technologies from ramps to genetic medicine are shaped by social, political, and economic systems. The conversation takes us from why mainstream tech innovation can distract us from maintenance and repair, how "brokenness" is experienced unevenly, and what AI means for accessibility and disability justice. At its heart, this episode asks a powerful question: What are we maintaining, what are we repairing, for whom, and toward what kind of world?Reading List:Broken Worlds, Disabled Kin: Strategies for Collective Survival by  Kelly Fritsch & Anne McGuire“Crip Technoscience Manifesto” by  Aimi Hamraie & Kelly Fritsch “Crip Technoscience” by  Kelly Fritsch and Suze BerkhoutWar on Autism: On the Cultural Logic of Normative Violence by Anne McGuire Disability Injustice: Confronting Criminalization in Canada edited by Kelly Fritsch and colleaguesEdited by: Meibel Dabodabo

Michele Friedner, a medical anthropologist at the University of Chicago who studies deaf and disabled peoples and technologies. She explores how cochlear implant programs in India create lifelong dependence and hidden caregiving labor. She describes therapy practices that narrow sensory worlds and makes a case for fugitive sensing: multisensory care, touch, and imaginative resistance.

Most companies unwittingly undermine their biggest growth opportunities by ignoring the complex morality of social media—where good technology depends on who controls it, and who benefits. Hosted by Eleanor Drage, this episode features Crystal Abidin, Professor of Internet Studies at Curtin University, who exposes the hidden power plays behind platforms like TikTok, revealing how what’s 'good' or 'bad' technology is often a matter of perspective—and power.This eye-opening episode, Eleanor and Crystal explore how social media’s ambivalence shapes youth cultures and influence—covering TikTok’s surprising origins, from climate activism to viral animals, and how state bans and geopolitical tensions transform global online communities. Crystal breaks down how content creators, from neurodivergent communities to cultural niche groups, leverage memes, humor, and subcultural capitals to forge solidarity and push back against systemic inequities.Reading List:https://wishcrys.com/TikTok Cultures Research NetworkHer work:Abidin, Crystal. 2026. TikTok and Youth Cultures. Emerald Publishing.Abidin, Crystal. 2026. Child Influencers: How Children Become Entangled with Social Media Fame. Polity Press. Abidin, Crystal, and Natalie Pang (eds). 2025. Internet Popular Culture and (Everyday) Politics: Methodological & Ethical Critiques from Southeast Asia. Routledge.Gurrieri, Lauren, Jenna Drenten, and Crystal Abidin (eds). 2025. Influencer Marketing: Interdisciplinary and Socio-Cultural Perspectives. Routledge. Tiidenberg, Katrin, Natalie Ann Hendry, and Crystal Abidin. 2021. tumblr. Polity Press.Warfield, Katie, Crystal Abidin, and Carolina Cambre (eds). 2020. Mediated Interfaces: The Body on Social Media. Bloomsbury Academic.Leaver, Tama, Tim Highfield, and Crystal Abidin. 2020. Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures. Polity Press. Abidin, Crystal, and Megan Lindsay Brown (eds). 2018. Microcelebrity Around the Globe: Approaches to cultures of internet fame. Emerald Publishing. Abidin, Crystal. 2018. Internet Celebrity: Understanding Fame Online_. _Emerald Publishing.

David Griffiths, founding director of Then Try This and community technology pioneer. He traces links between weaving and coding. He describes Sonic Kayaks for marine mapping and accessible paddling. He outlines Nurgle, an audio-first public health game, and shows how visible, community-led sensors spark local change.

Join host Eleanor Drage and guest Tara Merk as they explore how community-owned data centers can revolutionize digital ownership. Discover innovative models that challenge big tech's dominance, promoting sustainability and local empowerment. Learn from Germany's success in renewable energy and cooperative governance. This episode reimagines internet ownership, focusing on community needs for a fairer, greener future.Reading list:Tara Merk’s LinkedInCommunity Data Centers  The making of critical data center studies Data infrastructure studies on an unequal planet  Getting into fights with data centers: Or, a modest proposal for reframing the climate politics of ICTData Center Opposition Report Edited by: Meibel Dabodabo

Friederike von Franque, policy advisor at Wikimedia Germany working on infrastructure and the digital commons. She discusses feminist and community-led approaches to data infrastructure. Topics include decentralised hosting versus hyperscalers, municipal fibre and community-run data centres, environmental accountability for data centres, and tensions between symbolic datasets like Wikidata and generative AI.

Why do we often overlook the transformative power of open licensing in technology? Richard Bowman, a researcher and advocate for open source innovation, reveals how open licensing and frugal tech principles are not just ideas but powerful tools for global change.In this episode, we delve into Richard's journey from developing innovative microscopy to championing open source scientific hardware that challenges traditional tech ownership and promotes accessibility. Discover how these principles are reshaping global health and education, inspiring new ways to think about technology's role in society. Richard dismantles the myth that technology is neutral, illustrating how it can be a force for justice and empowerment.From creating locally repairable microscopes to developing community-driven scientific tools, this conversation uncovers the potential of open technology in crafting a more equitable and sustainable world.Reading list:Richard Bowman’s GitHub https://github.com/rwb27OpenFlexure Official Website https://openflexure.org/The Humanitarian Technology Trust https://httrust.org/We need to break science out of its ivory tower – here’s one way to do this by Jenny Molloy https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-break-science-out-of-its-ivory-tower-heres-one-way-to-do-this-76354The Open Source Hardware Movement by Andre Maia Chagas https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000014Making hardware open source can help us fight future pandemics by Richard Bowman and Julian Stirling https://theconversation.com/making-hardware-open-source-can-help-us-fight-future-pandemics-heres-how-we-get-there-153280Microscopy for everyone: how the OpenFlexure microscope is changing global healthcare https://www.theiet.org/membership/member-news/member-news-july-august-2025-issue/microscopy-for-everyone-how-the-openflexure-microscope-is-changing-global-healthcareOpenFlexure in MagPi Magazine (Issue 158, p. 112) https://magazine.raspberrypi.com/issues/158Sharing of hardware is a missing link in the open science puzzle via SPARC https://sparcopen.org/impact-story/often-overlooked-sharing-of-hardware-is-a-missing-link-in-open-science-puzzle/Open Science Hardware Policy by Julieta Arancio https://osh-policy.org/Edited by: Meibel Dabodabo