Humane Technology reading lists

https://hackernoon.com/your-facebook-data-is-creepy-as-hell-319ae47117e6

1 Like

Well… it couldn’t get more on-topic than with this article by Mr. Dan Hon :slight_smile:

There is a lot in here, but the gist is this:

"I’ve made this case above, but I feel it’s important enough to make again: at a high level, I believe that we need to:

  1. Clearly decide what kind of society we want; and then
  2. Design and deliver the technologies that forever get us closer to achieving that desired society."

(btw. this fits with my earlier argument for a deeper foundation than just tech for this community along the vision of Kate Raworth)

2 Likes

I can’t wait to read this in the morning… Discovering this website at midnight was an awful idea…

As a local slactivist with little to no tech knowledge. How would you start to spread the message? Short of a manic Facebook post (My usual tactic).

I want to yell it at everyone, but I don’t want to weaken the message and the work you are all putting in.

How do I be a productive promoter of this content?

I just preordered Irresistible by Adam Alter, but there is a plethora of tasty reads up on Edge.org (an amazing community, perhaps forming a bond here would be very productive)

1 Like

Strongly recommend Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Noble.

&Check out the buzz on Twitter–fascinating back and forth between those who feel tech has no politics and those who do…

Also recommend
Paul Dourish The Stuff of Bits


Tarleton Gillespie
http://opentranscripts.org/transcript/relevance-of-algorithms/
Langdon Winner

2 Likes

This link was shared to me by the team at https://eelo.io - who are developing a Google-less Android version…

The amount of data any Android device is collecting at any time is astounding :frowning:

These two articles have been extremely helpful to me ask I have delved deeper into this conversation. Tom Chatfield approaches this from a philosophical angle.

Books:
I’ve found these books really fascinating and would recommend them highly.

Turkle, Sherry. Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age. New York: Penguin Press, 2015.

Simanowski, Roberto. Data Love: The Seduction and Betrayal of Digital Technologies. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016.

Verbeek, Peter-Paul. Moralizing Technology: Understanding and Designing the Morality of Things. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2011.

Verbeek is one my favourite authors on the philosophy of technology.

1 Like

Langdon Winner is brilliant. In this article he famously critiques racist bridges as a form of technological bias.

For an older look at another “humane tech” movement, I would recommend Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher.

1 Like

For a more archival space to publish and organize readings, try the Time Well Spent wiki:
https://tws.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Page

1 Like

There’s a lot of short stories by George Saunders that work here. Pleased to see his work mentioned here.

1 Like

Hi all,
there are so many books to choose from but here are some of my favourites that are align with this subject:

Postdigital Aesthetics: Art, Computation and Design - David M. Berry & Michael Dieter

The Bright Labyrinth: Sex, Dead and Design in the Digital Regime - Ken Hollings

Nature’s Due: Healing our Fragmented Culture - Brian Goodwin

Soil : Soul : Society - A New Trinity for our Time - Satish Kumar

Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked - Adam Alter

Enjoy!!

“… The key to establishing what we all should and shouldn’t be doing with tech ethics is to start conversations and share our lessons with each other.”

1 Like

Nice in-depth article by Georges Abi-Heila on the psychology and tricks of attention hacking…

1 Like

Momentum…

A long but very worthwhile read and indicative of how hard it is to solve our tech problems on social media:

also see the discussion on HN:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16569778

Using technology and smart phones to fight depression.

Yes Homo Deus is a wonderfully interesting book.

Delightful post on what constitutes humane technology and the importance of scale…

2 Likes

Technical (on-)topics related to humane tech…

1 Like