On the next Fiat Lux Redux, Tuesday, October 13 at 9 AM, Can we work together with robots or will they become our overlords?
The Edge podcast host Leah Worthington speaks with Berkeley grad Annalee Newitz, award-winning science journalist, fiction writer, and podcast host, about why the dominant cultural anxiety regarding artificial intelligence is largely misguided.
Newitz argues that focusing heavily on “intelligent robots taking over” misses the fundamental point, explaining that the ethical dilemmas we project onto AI are actually deep-seated human issues. If human society eventually develops Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), we will inevitably treat it just as poorly as we treat other humans until we fix our own societal behaviors first.
Annalee’s latest sci-fi novella, Automatic Noodle, explores a near-future climate-ravaged San Francisco where a plucky, rag-tag group of sentient robots try to find community and fit into society by opening a restaurant. Newitz believes speculative fiction can act as a practical mechanism to allow humanity to actively imagine and prototype its way toward a better, more ethical future.
The Edge Episode 35 was produced by California magazine and the Cal Alumni Association and originally aired on July 7, 2026. This episode was edited for KALX by Mike Gill. If you have questions or comments about Fiat Lux Redux, contact: lisa.katovich@gmail.com.
Fiat Lux Redux presents previously aired lectures, conversations, and podcasts originating on the campus of UC Berkeley every other Tuesday from 9am to 9:30am. These often-lengthy original programs have been edited to a 30-minute format by experienced KALX producers. The show’s name, Latin for “Let there be light”, is a reference to the University of California’s motto, which is also Fiat Lux. The show’s goal is to provide listeners with a window into the intellectual and cultural life of UC Berkeley and to showcase the wide range of subjects and diversity of thought and ideas that are present at UC Berkeley.
