An enthusiastic but temperate defense of technology's promise to advance equality in a wide range of cultural and commercial contexts.

The dual assumption that "equality is today's primary moral imperative" and that "we must see technology as a public benefit" form the foundation of Lobel's work as a founding member of the Center for Intellectual Property Law and Markets at the University of San Diego. The author organizes her thorough survey around economics, employment, labor, health care, media and education, sexuality, homes, and families to catalog emerging technologies that promote diversity, accuracy, and empathy in fields that have historically been rife with prejudice and inequity. Lobel rejects the utopian-dystopian dichotomy, considering technology instead as a range of instruments that may assist address human problems—though sometimes with unexpected effects. Lobel is ultimately hopeful about the future of technology. The author acknowledges that the same technology may be used for assistance and surveillance, learning and manipulation, healing and damage, detection and concealment, and equality and exclusion. Algorithmic automation, artificial intelligence, and robots can greatly improve upon human weaknesses, but they also run the danger of doing the opposite if adequate standards for data and design are not followed. Lobel provides a vision for managing the increasing integration of automation and AI into our everyday lives using a new sort of tool: public policy to provide a progressive, business-friendly route ahead. The author believes that we may "forge[e] humanity's robotic future in an egalitarian image" by using legislative frameworks to enshrine equality-focused values in technological progress. Although some readers who are not familiar with Lobel's political perspective may disagree with her premises or suggested course of action—the final section acknowledges and glibly brushes aside potential objections—many readers will find the text to be a convincing guide to institutionally supported, technologically reinforced equality.