Difference between revisions of "Tristan Harris"

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Tristan Harris is a former software engineer, computer scientist, and psychologist <ref name="two">Bosker, Bianca [https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/who-is-tristan-harris-the-social-dilemma-subject-is-a-google-alum How Burning Man Inspired The Social Dilemma's Tristan Harris To Speak Out] Retrieved 12 March 2021.</ref>. He is most widely known as a prominent information ethicist. He was also recently featured in Netflix's, “The Social Dilemma”, a documentary which highlights the human impact on social networking, where he talks about his experiences working at Google<ref>The Social Dilemma. (2020, September 09). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.netflix.com/title/81254224</ref>.
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Tristan Harris is a former software engineer, computer scientist, and psychologist <ref name="two">Bosker, Bianca [https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/who-is-tristan-harris-the-social-dilemma-subject-is-a-google-alum How Burning Man Inspired The Social Dilemma's Tristan Harris To Speak Out] Retrieved 12 March 2021.</ref>. He is most widely known as a prominent information ethicist. He was also recently featured in Netflix's, “The Social Dilemma”, a documentary which highlights the human impact on social networking, where he talks about his experiences working at Google<ref>The Social Dilemma. (2020, September 09). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.netflix.com/title/81254224</ref>. He is the founder of the Center of Humane Technology, a nonprofit organization focused on the ethics of consumer technology. <ref name = "twenty">For Technologists. (n.d.). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.humanetech.com/technologists</ref>.  
 
== Early life and Education ==
 
== Early life and Education ==
 
Born in 1984<ref>Tristan Harris. (2021, March 05). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_Harris</ref>, Harris grew up in the midst of the Digital Age; a time where his classmates would grow up to invent Facebook <ref>Hall, M. (2021, February 04). Facebook. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Facebook</ref>. As a child, Tristan Harris was fascinated by magic, which contributed to his growing interest in technology and its influence on human behavior<ref name="three"> [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9038510/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm Harris Biography] Retrieved 12 March 2021.</ref>. Harris attended Stanford University and graduated in 2006 with a degree in Computer Science<ref name="five"> Lachenal, Jessica [https://thefuturesociety.org/people/firstname-name-2/ Future Society] Retrieved 12 March 2021.</ref>. During his time at Stanford, Harris interned at Apple and helped create the “Spotlight for Help” feature, designed to allow the user to find apps, documents, and files on their Mac<ref>Use Spotlight On Your Mac. (2020, October 20). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204014</ref>. Fifteen years later, this is now commonly seen as a magnifying glass in the top right corner of the current Macbooks.
 
Born in 1984<ref>Tristan Harris. (2021, March 05). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_Harris</ref>, Harris grew up in the midst of the Digital Age; a time where his classmates would grow up to invent Facebook <ref>Hall, M. (2021, February 04). Facebook. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Facebook</ref>. As a child, Tristan Harris was fascinated by magic, which contributed to his growing interest in technology and its influence on human behavior<ref name="three"> [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9038510/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm Harris Biography] Retrieved 12 March 2021.</ref>. Harris attended Stanford University and graduated in 2006 with a degree in Computer Science<ref name="five"> Lachenal, Jessica [https://thefuturesociety.org/people/firstname-name-2/ Future Society] Retrieved 12 March 2021.</ref>. During his time at Stanford, Harris interned at Apple and helped create the “Spotlight for Help” feature, designed to allow the user to find apps, documents, and files on their Mac<ref>Use Spotlight On Your Mac. (2020, October 20). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204014</ref>. Fifteen years later, this is now commonly seen as a magnifying glass in the top right corner of the current Macbooks.
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The Center of Humane Technology does not plan to slow down any time soon. In 2021, they are launching a course called the Fundamentals of Humane Technology, developed to "explore the personal, societal, and practical challenges of being a humane technologist"<ref>For Technologists. (n.d.). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.humanetech.com/technologists</ref>.
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The Center of Humane Technology does not plan to slow down any time soon. In 2021, they are launching a course called the Fundamentals of Humane Technology, developed to "explore the personal, societal, and practical challenges of being a humane technologist"<ref name = "twenty"/>
  
 
== Speaker Events and Calls to Action ==  
 
== Speaker Events and Calls to Action ==  

Revision as of 12:21, 26 March 2021


SiLogo.png
Tristan harris.jpeg
Tristan Harris
Birthname Tristan Harris
Date of Birth 1984
Birth Place San Francisco, CA
Nationality American
Occupation Founder of the Center of Humane Technology
Biography Information Ethicist

Tristan Harris is a former software engineer, computer scientist, and psychologist [1]. He is most widely known as a prominent information ethicist. He was also recently featured in Netflix's, “The Social Dilemma”, a documentary which highlights the human impact on social networking, where he talks about his experiences working at Google[2]. He is the founder of the Center of Humane Technology, a nonprofit organization focused on the ethics of consumer technology. [3].

Early life and Education

Born in 1984[4], Harris grew up in the midst of the Digital Age; a time where his classmates would grow up to invent Facebook [5]. As a child, Tristan Harris was fascinated by magic, which contributed to his growing interest in technology and its influence on human behavior[6]. Harris attended Stanford University and graduated in 2006 with a degree in Computer Science[7]. During his time at Stanford, Harris interned at Apple and helped create the “Spotlight for Help” feature, designed to allow the user to find apps, documents, and files on their Mac[8]. Fifteen years later, this is now commonly seen as a magnifying glass in the top right corner of the current Macbooks.

In addition to his computer science classes, Harris took supplemental classes in behavioral economics, social psychology, behavior change, and habit formation. He really began to focus on human behavior change while working at Professor BJ Fogg’s Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab. His supplemental studies encouraged him to pursue a master's program in the “psychology of behavior change” [9], but he did not finish that degree.

Instead, while in school, Harris founded Apture, which was a service that allowed blogs and news sites to add additional facts or insights to their content. The company was so successful that it was eventually acquired by Google, where Harris joined the team as a product manager[1].

Work and Career

At Google, Harris started and headed Google’s “Reminder Assist” project, which is now spread across Google products. It is an autocompletion engine to help users "remember things that they want to do". [9] While he was working as a product manager, Harris attended Burning Man, which he stated "awakened him to question his beliefs"[10]. After he returned, he created a 144-page slide deck titled “A Call to Minimize Distraction & Respect Users’ Attention”[11] that discusses Big Tech abusing the attention economy. In his presentation, Harris demonstrates the severity of this issue in a simple, yet powerful quote: “Never before in history have the decisions of a handful designers working at 3 companies (Google, Apple, and Facebook) had so much impact on how millions of people around the world spend their attention.” [10]. In this presentation, Harris also suggested that big companies such as Google, Apple and Facebook should “feel an enormous responsibility” to make sure our society does not spend every second buried in a smartphone. [12] Harris sparked the conversation of the monopolization of Big Tech. Although Harris only shared the slideshow to 10 people internally in the company, it somehow spread to 5,000 Google employees and even reached the CEO at the time, Larry Page. Thousands of employees applauded him for his statements and agreed. Despite all of this, Harris states that nothing changed. Product roadmaps and requirements still had to be met.

While he did not get the reaction he had hoped for, Harris transitioned from Product Manager to Design Ethicist and Product Philosopher within Google. Here, Harris made a stronger impact on the company and the way information ethics were handled. Harris' primary job was to study the way screen applications affect users in terms of overall mental health and behavior[1]. Using the findings from this study, Harris worked on developing a framework for how technology could ethically steer the thoughts and actions of millions of people[13]. He also spent time trying to make Big Tech companies realize the social implications of their products. The Atlantic referred to Harris as "the closest thing Silicon Valley has to a conscience"[10]. At Google, however, Harris felt limited and unable to enact change, causing him to ultimately leave the company in 2013[14]. Harris left Google to co-found a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization called "Time Well Spent," which is now known as the "Center for Humane Technology." [15] Through this organization, Harris wanted to mobilize support for an alternative centered around core values at tech corporations. Harris believes that all human minds can be controlled and the choices they make are not as free as they think they are. [16] Because of his moral principles, the news outlet, "The Atlantic," even stated that “Harris is the closest thing Silicon Valley has to a conscience" in their November 2016 issue. [17]

Center of Humane Technology

After leaving Google, Harris forged Time Well Spent, a movement focused on promoting the user of technology with intention and care to dispute tech companies' goal to hold the user's attention for as long as possible[18]. Harris claims that technology is responsible for the following: reducing attention spans, distraction, information overload, polarization, social isolation, etc. [19]. The movement gained so much attention that Harris went on to co-found the Center of Humane Technology with Ava Raskin and Randima Fernando. The Center of Humane Technology is a non-profit dedicated to shifting the digital infrastructure toward "humane technology that supports our well-being, democracy, and shared information environment"[20]. Their work includes educating the public, supporting technologists through training workshops, and advocating for policy change to advance legislation toward Big Tech[21].

He also created the Humane Design Guide [19] which educates designers how to identify opportunities to create humane technology. Humane Design Guide [19]

The Center of Humane Technology does not plan to slow down any time soon. In 2021, they are launching a course called the Fundamentals of Humane Technology, developed to "explore the personal, societal, and practical challenges of being a humane technologist"[3]

Speaker Events and Calls to Action

Congress Hearings

In addition to the Center of Humane technology, Harris often travels across the country to spread his message, and has spoken at Two Congress hearings. The first, on June 25th 2019, was titled “Optimizing for Engagement: Understanding the Use of Persuasive Technology on Internet Platforms”, and testified how technology giants are taking advantage of people’s attention[22]. The most recent, on January 8th of 2020, was titled "Americans at Risk: Manipulation and Deception in the Digital Age”, highlighting the urgency for legislation to stop Big Tech’s leverage on the public[23].

Ted Talks

How Better Tech Could Protect Us From Distraction

In the beginning of the Time Well Spent movement in 2014, Harris gave this Ted Talk in Brussels. He suggests that technologies need to return the power of choice back to the user. This could be seen in the form of “pausing” our technologies, which are commonly seen today with setting time limits on apps. He emphasizes that designers need to reengineer the platforms to create a net positive contribution to humanity while users need to demand this change[24].

How a Handful of Tech Companies Control Billions of Minds Every Day

In 2017 talk, Harris lists 3 radical steps that he believes society must take to counteract how these companies are hijacking our minds. [25]

  1. Transform our self-awareness: many people believe that they are not susceptible to persuasion[26].
  2. Reform the way that these systems are inherently designed: for instance, one way to do this would be to remove comments on Facebook with a ‘Let’s Meet’ button. Harris talks about this as a way to make our time unfragmented. Instead of constant distraction, schedule a productive amount of time to discuss a topic with someone. Over time, this would shift society back towards face-to-face interactions as opposed to hiding behind the screen of these new technologies and platforms. This would greatly reduce polarization of people's views so that we could actually understand who we are talking to before we make a comment. [26]
  3. Transform business and increase accountability: social media companies monetize through corrupt advertising models. Business models should not use advertising which targets demographics of people and polarizes sets of people. Instead, we should transition towards subscriptions and micropayments. Similar to how society is moving away from coal, tech giants need to make this transition for a more socially sustainable future. [26]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Bosker, Bianca How Burning Man Inspired The Social Dilemma's Tristan Harris To Speak Out Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  2. ↑ The Social Dilemma. (2020, September 09). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.netflix.com/title/81254224
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 For Technologists. (n.d.). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.humanetech.com/technologists
  4. ↑ Tristan Harris. (2021, March 05). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_Harris
  5. ↑ Hall, M. (2021, February 04). Facebook. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Facebook
  6. ↑ Harris Biography Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  7. ↑ Lachenal, Jessica Future Society Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  8. ↑ Use Spotlight On Your Mac. (2020, October 20). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204014
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Harris, Tristan Tristan Harris LinkedIn Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Bosker, B. (2017, January 06). The Binge Breaker. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/11/the-binge-breaker/501122/
  11. ↑ Minimized Distractions Slide Deck Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  12. ↑ Haselton, Todd (10 May 2018). "Google employee warned in 2013 about five psychological weaknesses that could be used to hook users". CNBC. Retrieved 20 March 2021 from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/10/google-employee-tristan-harris-internal-2013-presentation-warnings.html
  13. ↑ Ted Mini Biography - Tristan Harris) Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  14. ↑ How Tech Hijacks Our Brains, Corrupts Culture, And What To Do Now. (2019, May 21). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.npr.org/2019/05/15/723671325/how-tech-hijacks-our-brains-corrupts-culture-and-what-to-do-now
  15. ↑ "Google's new focus on well-being started five years ago with this presentation". The Verge. Retrieved 20 March 2021 from https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/10/17333574/google-android-p-update-tristan-harris-design-ethics
  16. ↑ Lewis, Paul (06 October 2017). "'Our minds can be hijacked': the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 March 2021 from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/smartphone-addiction-silicon-valley-dystopia
  17. ↑ Bosker, Bianca. "What Will Break People's Addictions to Their Phones?". The Atlantic. Retrieved 20 March 2021, from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/11/the-binge-breaker/501122/
  18. ↑ Staff, R. (2017, February 07). Full transcript: Time Well Spent Founder Tristan Harris on Recode Decode. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.vox.com/2017/2/7/14542504/recode-decode-transcript-time-well-spent-founder-tristan-harris
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Voices of VR Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  20. ↑ Who We Are. (n.d.). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.humanetech.com/who-we-are
  21. ↑ Our Work. (n.d.). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.humanetech.com/who-we-are#work
  22. ↑ Optimizing for engagement: Understanding the use of persuasive technology on internet platforms. (2019, June 25). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.commerce.senate.gov/2019/6/optimizing-for-engagement-understanding-the-use-of-persuasive-technology-on-internet-platforms
  23. ↑ Hearing on "Americans at Risk: Manipulation and Deception in the Digital Age". (2020, January 14). Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://energycommerce.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/hearing-on-americans-at-risk-manipulation-and-deception-in-the-digital
  24. ↑ Harris, T. (n.d.). How better tech could protect us from distraction. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.ted.com/talks/tristan_harris_how_better_tech_could_protect_us_from_distraction/transcript#t-697877
  25. ↑ Harris, T. (n.d.). How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.ted.com/talks/tristan_harris_how_a_handful_of_tech_companies_control_billions_of_minds_every_day
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 Abosch, Kevin Wired Retrieved 12 March 2021.
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