The Laws of Technology

H.C. Robinson’s undergraduate thesis involved in vitro fertilization (IVF) cases where couples were in custody disputes with egg/sperm donors or surrogates. “The technology of IVF didn’t really make people parents, but the law did,” notes Robinson. “It allocated to certain people parental rights and responsibilities, and ‘erased’ others, even though they were the genetic parents.” That work led Robinson to think about the interaction of technology and law, especially in a rapidly changing society. Following law school and a teaching stint, Robinson finds herself a perfect fit for MIT’s program in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society (HASTS). Her doctoral dissertation takes on Uber, investigating through ethnographic fieldwork—even working as an Uber driver herself—labor conditions, the relationship between technology and “on-demand” work, and the value of legal regulation of labor.