My name is Jake, live in Silicon Valley, and currently an intern for a non-profit organization that works to provide financial capital to entrepreneurs. I’ve always been interested in human connection and to see how technology has negatively and unintendedly affected us, especially myself as a millennial, I knew that I had to join this community. I’m eager to continue to learn more about the movement, see how I can contribute and add value to the conversation, and possibly be a participant in figuring out how we can work together to better ourselves on and off the screen.
I’m Alexios, I run the International Fact-Checking Network and I’m passionate about fixing the incentive mechanisms for our online information ecosystem, including but not limited to those for accurate content.
Here to listen and learn and perhaps to get organized, too.
Hi Matti! I work at a developer bootcamp, and I am trying to engage students around ethical issues in their future work. I’m interested in developing a curriculum for this, but I’m just getting started and am still exploring. I would love to touch base with you, since you mentioned exploring a curriculum for bootcamps.
I have just moved back to Europe after spending the last two years in Seattle writing my Master’s thesis in Digital Anthropology. I am deeply curious about the (asymmetric) relationship between people and technology and how this shapes how we understand ourselves as persons.
I’m intrigued by how ethically “charged” technological objects are and how deeply technologies are shaped by their creators. I believe that we need to begin asking much better questions of technology.
I currently work as a technology & system architect and am looking to have a meaningful contribution to the technology industry.
I am thrilled to meet you, learn from you and would love to connect. I’m open to any opportunities.
My name is Zoe Wagner, and I’m a student at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wa, creating my own emphasis in Ethics of Technology.
I’m deeply interested in the story that is interwoven in our relationship with technology, and how mythologies and morals are passed down in cultures, to leave us with the tools to understand the Now. I love the questions, “What is the story that is being told?” and “Is this the story we want to tell?”
I’m looking any experience that can help me get into the field! Internships, jobs, collaborations!
If you have anything I would love to hear.
So grateful to be apart of this conversation , this community.
My name is Murray and I’m a final year product design student based in the UK, I came across you guys as part of my research for my major project which initially began with our society’s issue with work-life balance.
Having found that it is the phone and its notifications that are are causing us to work at home as well as deal with home issues at work, my project developed into me designing devices that filter out unnecessary notifications and provide a much more humane method of notifying users in both offices and homes. The devices are hubs at which we can leave our smartphones, whilst giving us the reassurance that if important notifications occur, we will be notified.
I find this whole topic fascinating and would love to discuss it the people on here, as I’m sure there is knowledge that surpasses my own.
Hi! My name is David Martin. My interest in this subject is personal, my family is gone because of this election, and facebook ads.
My faith is non existent, I no longer can stand Christianity. This social movement has sealed the fate of our nation. And is social warfare.
I am a user of your products, I ran servers, BBS, forums, I bought big10 BBS. I am a product of your imaginations. A hack, No doubt installed and ran most of your work.
I am at the end of the internet. Where it no! Longer has anything to offer me. But perhaps I can offer others some advice. Kill it.
Hi! My name is Dustin Wright, I’m currently doing my master’s in computer science focusing on deep learning and natural language processing. I’m interested in developing technology which fosters human connection and augments our experience and abilities as opposed to replacing humans and causing us to disconnect from one another. I’m also interested in changing the culture of the tech industry, which I believe is very toxic.
I’m mostly looking to connect with people who are currently actively pursuing people-first projects, preferably outside of the silicon valley bubble. As of now I plan on staying in academia for as long as possible, since I see it as one of the only places I can be where what I work on can be motivated purely by good intentions, but I’d like to know what other things people are working on who care about humane tech.
Greetings to you all, I have been looking for all of you for quiet some time. I have been in IT since 2006 currently work in a Cybersecurity company keeping Secure Web Gateways ticking across many sectors. I am a true rebel at heart always have been and have a high energy spirit. I am awake …seriously…wide awake. I have seen the internet bring many together but without substance. Recognized the toxicity of Social Media and ditched it a few years ago. I saw right through it, but it took a bit, as most things do. I am that generation if we need to label, that saw it all get built up. From msg board to myspace to the next platform…Reading intros to some of the folks on here I am humbled to be in such a impressive crowd. I look forward to interacting with you all…'
Much Luv~
My name is Shubhanshu and I have a website www.portraitflip.com that turns your favorite and most beloved images and photographs into original hand-painted portraits and deliver worldwide.Through our artist’s talent and imagination, we breathe life into even the most minimal and nuanced details in every image.Currently, I am trying to revive the culture of gifting artworks and have provided livelihood to 15 artists and expanding.Also, we have a separate project here we are doing research on manufacturing eco-friendly colors for artworks.
Hi, I’m Nicole, and I learned about the Center for Humane Technology through the Ezra Klein Show podcast, which just had Tristan Harris on to talk about how modern digital technologies are abusing human attention.
It struck a really deep chord. The most persuasive part, for me, was when he talked about SnapChat’s streak feature, which so plainly coerces (mostly young) people to redefine their definition of friendship in a way that prioritizes the appearance of “being there” for another over genuine correspondence.
I’m content strategist for a business intelligence solution and am also involved in product design and UX. I spend most of my time trying to steal slices of attention on my company’s behalf, and it has become clear to me that this is indeed a zero-sum game: all wins are temporary and predicated on being louder and more addictive than competitors. I’m tired of the treadmill, and I want to be part of the solution.
Tech (and we can include things like written language, agriculture, and the wheel here) isn’t inherently bad, but it always makes our lives easier and, in doing so, becomes an object of seduction and source of skill atrophy. It sounds like this the Center is about finding that tipping point where a technology goes from being mostly helpful to being mostly detrimental and finding ways, through intentional design and regulation, of pulling platforms back from the brink.
I’m so excited to have found this community! When I heard about the launch of Humane Tech it was like a breath of fresh air.
My name is Aaron Fuchs, and I am a student in Communication Disorders - hoping to start a career as a Speech-Language Pathologist. I’m here out of concern for what addictive design is doing to our brains and our ability to communicate. Attention and working memory are vitally important for language development - from birth through old age. These skills are the exact things being degraded by continuous partial attention and endless scrolling through social media apps.
We’re raising a whole generation with little rectangular slot machines within easy reach at any given time, and we don’t know what the long term effects of that will be.
The saying nowadays is that “sitting is the new smoking”. Sitting is terrible, but I don’t think that’s quite right -
sitting is not addictive to my knowledge! The “new smoking” is the potent mixture of smartphones with social media. I’m here to talk to you smart people and help figure out what to do about that!
Looking forward to building a REAL community,
Aaron
Hey folks. I’m Rick, a Canadian in Tokyo. I’m just discovering this Humane Tech / Time Well Spent movement, but it coincides with a lot of my recent concerns, in particular as a parent to a 5 year old as I try to help guide my child through this complicated new world. I’ve recently also made a pocket planner notebook, which helps me keep my smartphone far away from me throughout my work day.
I’m a former tech journalist (CNet, TechInAsia, and others) but I currently work in marketing for a technology company.
Hello everyone! My name is Kent and I am happy to be here and hope to be a worthwhile contributing member of the community.
My history with technology goes way back to the Neanderthal days of learning BASIC on a TRS-80 machine as a teenager up to today as an IT Business Solutions consultant for a global customer service organization. I owned a business in the mid 90’s developing and managing web sites (and other online activity) for businesses. Eventually, I realized that feeding my family was more important and found a “real” job managing software implementations.
I have always been fascinated and concerned with marketing – especially the use of propaganda and group think - and have watched with interest the development of social media and related technology. I believe people like Lippmann, Bernays, and Goebbels would salivate at the opportunity to reach and even control and manipulate the masses with the tools available today.
Though technology is obviously useful I am concerned with the saturation of it in our lives. I don’t think it has made us freer but can enslave us in a virtual world with the allusion of freedom. However, I am not doom and gloom. I have a positive and realistic belief that we can rule technology – and minimize/eliminate the unethical use of it - so it doesn’t rule us.
I look forward to working with you and hopefully providing any insight and help.
Hello! I’m Jeff and work for Verizon’s Digital Media group… More importantly, I have four kids and have seen the effect that today’s technology has on my children. I have children that used to read a ton of books in middle school (prior to them being allowed to have phones and social media) and I see that interest in books decline at a rate correlated to the amount of time they spend checking their phones.
While we limit the social media accounts they can have, the ability to communicate using these apps is being woven deeply into their social fabrics. So, I am very interested in how best to balance the time spent on these apps.
Would love to have a high quality, captivating presentation that can be shared at schools that makes a strong case about the impact of phone use and use of social media and then provides well thought out recommendations that we can share with kids to manage their time online and where they will see the benefit…
Hi there! I’m a visual, system, and UX designer and just recently started with the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice at the University of Washington (Seattle), where I’m providing graphic and educational UX design support to our public health education programs.
I’d be very interested in connecting offline with other folks in the Puget Sound area soon.
I’ve developed personal meta-analytical skills for years as part of a mindfulness-based approach to managing my own struggles with bipolar disorder. The effect of using modern technology and social media is, from that perspective, jarring and hard to miss. It’s been worrying me for quite awhile now, but over the last 2-3 years it’s become increasingly clear that it wasn’t just challenging for me, it’s affecting a lot of people.
Alongside my day job I’m working on written material about cognition, metacognition, culture, and communication paradigms. I’m also working on ways to start and promote long-overdue community conversations in the design field about ethics, and about how we need an ethical framework that covers more than just business and legal concerns. I’m a long-time proponent of Mike Monteiro’s writing on the topic.
Hello - my name is Kate and i’m currently working Sydney in the technology department of a finance company, but I am studying anthropology with a desire to move into a space helping technologists better understand how to work in teams that are focused on helping communities and people achieve more, rather than being profit focused.
I believe that diversity and inclusion have a large role to play in this work, as they are often ignored or severely undervalued in this context at a broader level. Without bringing everyone’s perspective to this effort, we won’t be able to truly respect their many values and design systems accordingly.
I found this space after seeing Max speak live at SingularityU Summit Australia earlier this week.
I want to expand my study of cultures, ethnography, ethics and design practices to help this movement. I joined this community to find out more about the fantastic work and perspectives that others globally can bring to this effort.
Hi everyone!
I’m a marketer from London, and I’m fascinated by the ethics and ‘human’ side of technology. I’m looking forward to joining conversations and increasing my knowledge of everything ‘Humane Technology’.
Abbie
