This page is meant as a compilation of references to people, organisations and various types of content that relate in one way or another to making technology more humane. Try clicking on the names!
If you think there’s an important reference missing, please contact me to let me know!
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People
Tristan Harris
Tristan Harris is the co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, from which this website was largely inspired, and host of the podcast Your Undivided Attention.
Shoshana Zuboff
Shoshana Zuboff is a Harvard Business School professor emeritus, known for her books, including The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.
Jaron Lanier
Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, artist, author and philosopher who wrote Ten Reasons For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now among other books.
Anna Lembke
Anna Lembke is a professor of psychiatry at Stanford and prolific author who works on the addictive nature of persuasive technology, among other things.
Organisations
Center for Humane Technology
Formerly known as Time Well Spent, this organisation is “radically dedicated to reimagining the digital infrastructure”.
Algotransparency
Created by Guillaume Chaslot, this organisation advocates for tech companies to be more transparent about how their algorithms work, for the common good.
La Quadrature du Net
Abbreviated as LQDN, this organisation promotes and defends freedom and public interest in the digital world.
Documentaries
The Social Dilemma
Released on Netflix in 2020, this film interviews dozens of former Big Tech employees, executives and various experts to expose the ways in which social media “erodes the fabric of society”.
The Great Hack
This documentary looks back at the Facebook – Cambridge Analytica scandal by focusing on the roles of former employee Brittany Kaiser, journalist Carole Cadwalladr and professor David Carroll.
Coded Bias
This documentary investigates how human biases and preconceptions are invariably imbedded in technology and what the consequences of this mean for justice in a society that is increasingly dependent on artificial intelligence.
Research articles
Ethics of the Attention Economy: The Problem of Social Media Addiction
This Cambridge study exposes the addictive effects of social media and argues that these pose a serious and unique moral problem, which is incentivised by the attention-economy business model.
Online Manipulation: Hidden Influences in a Digital World
This 45-page study investigates and defines psychological manipulation on online platforms, and synthesises its harms and most worrying aspects, such as automated manipulation.
Podcast
Your Undivided Attention
Hosted by Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin, this podcast of over 40 episodes and counting deals with the diverse problems of modern digital technology, but also their potential solutions, by interviewing various academics, activist, leaders, experts and more.
Humane Tech Blog 