“We were on the inside. We know what the companies measure. We know how they talk, and we know how the engineering works."
“The largest supercomputers in the world are inside of two companies — Google and Facebook — and where are we pointing them? We’re pointing them at people’s brains, at children.”
- Tristan Harris, a former in-house ethicist at Google who is heading the new group
A group of Silicon Valley technologists who were early employees at Facebook and Google, alarmed over the ill effects of social networks and smartphones, are banding together to challenge the companies they helped build.
The cohort is creating a union of concerned experts called the Center for Humane Technology. Along with the nonprofit media watchdog group Common Sense Media, it also plans an anti-tech addiction lobbying effort and an ad campaign at 55,000 public schools in the United States.
The campaign, titled The Truth About Tech, will be funded with $7 million from Common Sense and capital raised by the Center for Humane Technology. Common Sense also has $50 million in donated media and airtime from partners including Comcast and DirecTV. It will be aimed at educating students, parents and teachers about the dangers of technology, including the depression that can come from heavy use of social media.
“Facebook appeals to your lizard brain — primarily fear and anger. And with smartphones, they’ve got you for every waking moment.”
- Roger McNamee, an early investor in Facebook and a member of the new Center for Humane Technology.
The effect of technology, especially on younger minds, has become hotly debated in recent months.
- In January, two big Wall Street investors asked Apple to study the health effects of its products and to make it easier to limit children’s use of iPhones and iPads.
- Pediatric and mental health experts called on Facebook last week to abandon a messaging service the company had introduced for children as young as 6.
- Parenting groups have also sounded the alarm about YouTube Kids, a product aimed at children that sometimes features disturbing content.
The new Center for Humane Technology includes an unprecedented alliance of former employees of some of today’s biggest tech companies. Apart from Mr. Harris, the center includes
- Sandy Parakilas, a former Facebook operations manager
- Lynn Fox, a former Apple and Google communications executive
- Dave Morin, a former Facebook executive
- Justin Rosenstein, who created Facebook’s Like button and is a co-founder of Asana
- Roger McNamee, an early investor in Facebook
- Renée DiResta, a technologist who studies bots
The group expects its numbers to grow. Its first project to reform the industry will be to introduce a Ledger of Harms
- A website aimed at guiding rank-and-file engineers who are concerned about what they are being asked to build.
- The site will include data on the health effects of different technologies and ways to make products that are healthier.
Source: news.ycombinator.com
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