Have you corrected your racist robot?

Last week, while vacationing in Lisbon, I found myself striking up a conversation at the hotel bar with a middle-aged couple who spoke English with a distinctly American accent (which is to say, my accent). Call them Frank and Laura. At some point, our small talk turned to that most American of topics: “So, what do you do?” Frank asked. I told them that I’m a magazine editor, and this prompted Laura to reveal that she, too, edits for a living. How wonderful. Then came the details: Laura oversees product copy for an online retailer that serves as a platform for small, traditional craftsmen across Europe, people who’d otherwise struggle to reach markets beyond the local. Thanks to the website, anyone anywhere can order, say, wooden figurines of an old-timey Central European housewife threate