鈥淗ow do you ethically steer the thoughts and actions of two billion people鈥檚 minds every day?鈥�
Called the 鈥渃losest thing Silicon Valley has to a conscience,鈥� by The Atlantic magazine, Tristan Harris spent three years as a Google Design Ethicist developing a framework for how technology should 鈥渆thically鈥� steer the thoughts and actions of billions of people from screens.
In 2016, Tristan left Google to work full-time on reforming the attention economy with the non-profit initiative, . Time Well Spent aims to catalyze a rapid, coordinated change among technology companies through public advocacy, the development of ethical design standards, design education and policy recommendations to protect minds from nefarious manipulation.
Tristan founded and inspired the associated 鈥溾�� movement. In 2018, Mark Zuckerberg embraced time well spent, a phrase coined by Harris, as a design goal for Facebook.
Tristan has spent a decade understanding the invisible influences that hijack human thinking and action. Drawing on literature from addiction, performative magic, social engineering, persuasive design, and behavioral economics, he is currently developing a framework for ethical persuasion, especially as it relates to the moral responsibility of technology companies.
magazine named Tristan one of in 2017. . His work has been featured on , , , , , , , , , and many more. Tristan has briefed Heads of State, technology company CEOs, and members of U.S. Congress about the attention economy. He is a at the Harvard Kennedy School in Government and an to Open Markets Institute.
Previously, Tristan was CEO of Apture, . Apture enabled millions of users to get instant, on-the-fly explanations across a vast publisher network.
Tristan holds several patents from his work at Apple, Wikia, Apture and Google. He graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Computer Science, focused on Human Computer Interaction, while dabbling in behavioral economics, social psychology, behavior change and habit formation in Professor BJ Fogg鈥檚 Stanford Persuasive Technology lab. Tristan is currently a Senior Fellow at Common Sense Media. He was rated #16 in Inc Magazine鈥檚 Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30 in 2009.
Most popular work:
- Read his most popular essay (15 min read) 鈥� in , , Arabic and .
- Listen to his most popular interview, (1 hour 40 mins) with the philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris.