Edward Snowden made his way to Manhattan on Tuesday night via robot.

The former National Security Agency contractor and whistleblower, current director of Freedom of the Press and subject of Academy Award-winning documentary Citizenfour spoke with computer scientist and author Jaron Lanier before a small group of journalists at the retail concept store Story in Chelsea. Each man communicated remotely through a BeamPro, which is a flat-screen monitor attached to a swivel base by extendable legs that allowed Lanier's and Snowden's digitally streaming faces to be roughly at adult height.

The event was co-sponsored by the USA Network show Mr. Robot, which discovered last year that Snowden was a fan of the drama about a vigilante hacker who by day works in cybersecurity. Timed to celebrate the July 13 season 2 premiere of Mr. Robot, Snowden and Lanier discussed Henry David Thoreau, government and Snowden's possible return to the U.S.

During their discussion of Thoreau, Snowden said that “the majority can make us think things that are very wrong are very right simply because they are popular. But we need to remember that the majority can be wrong.”

Several times during the 40-minute virtual conversation, there were video disruptions. Occasionally, moderator and Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Craig Hatkoff had to ask the men to repeat their statements.

“Apparently someone doesn’t want us talking,” Snowden joked before tackling the issue of U.S. government surveillance of its employees.

“Privacy is the fountainhead of all other rights ... [NSA employees] are good people doing bad things for what they believe is a good reason,” Snowden said. “This is the moral hazard of good intentions."

It’s been just more than three years since Snowden exposed large-scale NSA domestic surveillance and was granted asylum in Russia. From an undisclosed location in the former Soviet Union, Snowden said that he is not working against the U.S. government.

"I am still working for the [U.S.] government. They just don't realize that yet. I am working to reform the government not harm it."

As for a return to his homeland, Snowden said that while some key government officials have changed their tune and no longer want him dead, his homecoming is a long way off.

"I have had only one condition for a return to the United States [and that is] that they permit me a fair trial. The guarantee that I would be able to argue my case to a jury. But [the U.S. government’s] response was, 'Yeah. We are not so wild about that. We won’t give you a fair trail, but we do promise you that we will not torture you.' "

After the small crowd stopped laughing, Hatkoff presented Snowden with the inaugural Thoreau Prize for Public Service and Civil Disobedience. The award is a red ball-peen hammer.

"I hope to be able to present this to you in person very soon," Hatkoff said.