A set of Silicon Valley technologists who had worked with Facebook and Google, frightened over the impact of social networks and cell phones, are banding together to challenge the organizations they helped construct. The Center for Humane Technology is a group containing previous representatives and allies of Google, Facebook, and Mozilla.
The philanthropic association commenced on February 4 with the expectation that it can bring issues to light about the societal toll of technology, which its individuals accept are inalienably addictive. It is an advertisement campaign aimed at 55,000 government funded schools in the United States. The campaign, titled “The Truth About Tech,” will be launched with $7 million from Common Sense and funding raised by the Center for Humane Technology.
“All the tech companies profit the more attention they extract out of human vessels,” Center for Humane Technology co-founder Tristan Harris tells Quartz. “They profit by drilling into our brains to pull the attention out of it, by using persuasion techniques to keep them hooked. We were on the inside. We know what the companies measure. We know how they talk, and we know how the engineering works.” “We know what the companies measure. We know how they talk, and we know how the engineering works.”
They trust that their private understanding of the design techniques, business incentives, and culture behind how technology accumulates an exorbitant measure of our attention will be the way to take care of the issue. While trying to change the innovation business, they intend to present a Ledger of Harms. The objective of the site will be to direct engineers who are worried about the technology they are being requested to build. It will give information on the health impact of various innovations, and proposals for how to make products more beneficial. The group’s site clarifies that while organizations like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have profited society in some ways, they also compete for our attention for profit.
“Constantly forced to outperform their competitors, they must use increasingly persuasive techniques to keep us glued,” the website reads. “Reversing the digital attention crisis and realigning technology with humanity’s best interests,” is the end goal for the Center for Humane Technology.
