Liberty, Justice, and the Pursuit of Robots

Whoa, are these robots taking our jobs?

In this episode, we talk with Tom Williams, a roboticist and professor at Colorado School of Mines, about his upcoming book Degrees of Freedom: On Robotics and Social Justice. The conversation is wide-ranging, accessible, and deeply thoughtful. We get into the politics of robot design, how bias shows up in machines, and what it means to build robots in service of justice—not just efficiency.

Tom shares what it looks like when robots are used in policing, in care work, and in public space—and how power, history, and intention all shape those deployments. We talk about the difference between building robots that “don’t discriminate” and building ones that actively support equity. And we spend some time unpacking the idea behind the phrase “no justice, no robots.”

He also gives a preview of the arguments in his book, and points listeners toward a free online draft for those who want to dig deeper before the official release.

You can preorder Degrees of Freedom now through MIT Press: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262554022/degrees-of-freedom/