Technology should bring out the best in humanity, not the worst—a manifesto for resonant computing built on five principles that reject hyper-scale extraction for human flourishing.
Ultimately, these things aren’t concrete plans, it’s just a conversation starter. The people who published it aren’t building anything, but it does provide a starting point for things to think of those of us who do build things. The parts I thought were meaningful were in the list at the end:
Private: In the era of AI, whoever controls the context holds the power. While data often involves multiple stakeholders, people must serve as primary stewards of their own context, determining how it’s used.
Dedicated: Software should work exclusively for you, ensuring contextual integrity where data use aligns with your expectations. You must be able to trust there are no hidden agendas or conflicting interests.
Plural: No single entity should control the digital spaces we inhabit. Healthy ecosystems require distributed power, interoperability, and meaningful choice for participants.
Adaptable: Software should be open-ended, able to meet the specific, context-dependent needs of each person who uses it.
Prosocial: Technology should enable connection and coordination, helping us become better neighbors, collaborators, and stewards of shared spaces, both online and off.
Ultimately, these things aren’t concrete plans, it’s just a conversation starter. The people who published it aren’t building anything, but it does provide a starting point for things to think of those of us who do build things. The parts I thought were meaningful were in the list at the end:
I think these are all good things to strive for.
I agree, but struggle to get behind these sorts of manifestos that provide nothing concrete on how this will be achieved.
But it’s nice to see that in tech there might still be alternative ways to think about things, this just doesn’t yet seem all that convincing.