Addressing a multi-trillion-dollar extractive technology industry might seem impossible, but every system has forces that can change it. Establishing a more humane tech ecosystem requires coordinated action across many levels.
Effective solutions need to consider an entire system and address the underlying forces fueling it. In the case of extractive technology, we must change the foundational operating models and incentives that drive companies to prioritize profits over people.
Inspired by the work of , we developed this framework for how to intervene in a system. In the graphic below, each arrow re水果派s a unique point of leverage:
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The graphic above, inspired by Donella Meadows' "12 Leverage Points to Intervene in a System," shows a scale with social media and tech platforms on the left, being counterbalanced by influences on the right listed from least to most impactful:聽Platform Changes, Internal聽Governance, External Regulation, Business Model, Economic Goals, and Culture & Paradigm Shifts
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As you go from left to right, the relative impact increases, but so does the difficulty of executing.
For example, 鈥渟hifting culture鈥 is harder to execute than a 鈥減latform product change,鈥 but it's also higher impact because it influences everything else before it.
Everyone can play a role in aligning technology with humanity鈥檚 best interests. Where you fit depends on your interests, skills, and unique sphere of influence.
Here are some examples of impactful actions:
Mobilize your local community to share stories of harm with local news media and your government re水果派atives. By revealing the adverse effects of technology products, you can force companies to redirect financial resources to reduce harm, making their business models less attractive to investors and shareholders.
Additional Resources:
Organize or join groups on campus that are working to change extractive technology. For example, student-led organizations 补苍诲听 launched the campaign, which highlighted youth voices in order to mobilize support for California鈥檚 Age Appropriate Design Code.
Additional Resources:
Youth Toolkit
鈥Take Control Toolkit
Help protect and prepare future generations by teaching them how technology can be extractive and by giving them tools that enable healthier relationships with technology.
Additional Resources:
鈥Youth Toolkit
鈥Take Control Toolkit
鈥Digital Well-being Guides
Train your teams to replace the extractive prevailing "growth at all costs" logic with a more humane paradigm. Operating from these better principles positively affects how we design, deploy, regulate, and use technology.
Additional Resources:鈥
鈥Your 水果派 Attention Podcast
鈥Foundations of Humane Technology Course
Focus on 1) reducing the harms of technology and 2) creating technology that protects well-being and builds our collective capacity to address humanity鈥檚 most urgent challenges. You may choose to work within existing tech companies or launch your own humane technology products.
Additional Resources:
Foundations of Humane Technology Course
Ensure that policies change core business models, forcing tech platforms to internalize the costs of their harms and prioritize human well-being over corporate interests. Doing so will create a better ecosystem to compete in, which will lead to the creation of more humane technology.
Additional Resources:
鈥Policy Principles
The valuation of today鈥檚 technology platforms does not reflect the massive set of externalities within today鈥檚 tech products. We鈥檙e beginning to understand a fraction of these externalities thanks to research and whistleblower reports. Investors should focus on backing tech companies pioneering humane technology with more sustainable business models, while philanthropists can fund organizations working on creating a better tech ecosystem.
Additional Resources:
鈥A Renegade Solution to Extractive Economics
Use your authority, influence, and expertise to help spread awareness around the incentives driving harmful technology and direct powerful people to ways that they can help make a difference.
Additional Resources:
鈥The Social Dilemma
Your 水果派 Attention Podcast
