Principles and Practices of Holistic Technology

Introducing the Holistic Technology Project

Can we grow better technologies?

Through more than a decade and a half of working with AI, I have both participated in the development of powerful technologies and been harmed deeply by their effects. I helped develop tools to help people connect and communicate with each other, to bring them outside and in contact with their neighborhoods, to help them find meaningful jobs, and to ensure that the new generation of AI technologies retain the equity and diversity that make our world healthy, beautiful, and strong. I have also been affected by systems and technologies that abstracted me from my unique humanity, that harmed our ability to provide me with quality healthcare, and which have isolated and disconnected me from the people I love and the resources that support my wellbeing. As I have worked to align my career with my core values, in service to our world, I have come to ask: what if the technologies we built robustly nourished the Earth, healed each other, and strengthened our understanding of ourselves and our opportunities to live with wisdom and care?

Our project

At the Holistic Technology Project, we believe that the effects of a technology on the world go beyond those intended by its designers and span its full causal impact from genesis to reintegration. Our mission is to support the development of technologies, projects, and organizations that offer clear net benefit for our whole Earth system, improving understanding, restoring balance, and strengthening relationships between all of us.

For example, we have helped develop a viral app that increases data sovereignty (our rights to control information about us) and awareness of online behaviors, an organization focused on sharing user taste and feedback to support a distributed ecosystem of diverse AI models, and an organization focused on helping parents to understand and communicate with their children in ways that support rather than scold. These projects have each allowed the founders and teams to channel their vision about how the world could better support our wellbeing via the thoughtful application of emerging technologies. Our unique approach acknowledges the global impact of our creations. We meet them with the depth and holistic perspective that is required to make lasting positive impact and to ensure that our time and energy on Earth may be transformed into gifts that ripple outward to make this beautiful place better for all.

Technologies are but tools that amplify our intentions. They allow us to impact the world far more extensively than we could with our hands alone. They are never created in isolation, but emerge within complex systems of relationships between cultural, social, ecological, and economic components. Recognizing this, our holistic approach to technology is deeply integrative, considering the full consequences and lifecycle of every tool, platform, or system—from the resources used to construct it, to its impact on people, communities, and ecosystems, and ultimately to its decommissioning and reintegration into the environment. For software projects, this may include effects on users, economies, and resource allocation. For hardware, it may additionally involve the side effects of manufacturing, lifecycle, and physical engagement with the environment. Just as living systems move through cycles of emergence, maturation, interaction, decay, and renewal, so too should our technologies.

Holistic technology development

When our creations successfully support the net wellbeing of both the parts and the whole Earth system, we call them "holistic technologies." Developing them requires us to think beyond the immediate functionality or utility of a tool, past the all too common myopic view of the problem directly at hand. It asks us to consider: What resources does this technology consume, and how are they sourced? What systems are impacted by its production and use? How does it change the ways we relate to one another and the world? And, crucially, how does it align with the health and resilience of the Earth system as a whole? Where conventional tech often prioritizes speed, scale, and short-term gains, holistic technology values depth, context, and long-term flourishing.

Of course it is impossible to predict all of the impacts of a technology, especially one with far-reaching global effects. Instead of attempting a priori perfection, we recognize the importance of an iterative developmental approach. To achieve this, we focus on cycles of feedback, on listening openly to what reality is telling us, and to starting small, with manageable effects, and expanding our influence proportionally with our understanding. We prioritize collaboration with diverse stakeholders and those with relevant expertise—scientists, engineers, artists, policymakers, creators, and users—to ensure that multiple perspectives inform the design and implementation of technologies. By nurturing a culture of curiosity, humility, and responsibility, we hope to shift the narrative around technology from one of extraction and exploitation to one of care and regeneration.

Through our incubation programs, research initiatives, and community engagements, we aim to:

1. Support the development of technologies that prioritize ecological harmony, social equity, and abundant opportunity.

2. Create frameworks and tools for assessing the global and long-term impacts of technological systems.

3. Empower individuals and organizations to integrate holistic principles into their innovation processes.

4. Inspire the collective reimagining of technology beyond the mere means to solve problems, but as a way to deepen our relationship with the world and each other.

5. Invest in developing a deep understanding of the nature of our world and how to be healthy, happy, and harmoniously part of it.

Moving forward together

As we look to the future, we invite you to join us in this endeavor. Whether you are a technologist, a thinker, or simply someone who cares about the health of our planet, there is a role for you in co-creating a world where technology supports our collective wellbeing. We have all felt the consequences of technologies built without care—from frayed attention spans and fractured communities to rising inequality and the erosion of our connection to nature. We have also glimpsed the beauty of tools crafted with intention and love and the opportunities and magic they create. Holistic technology is not just a concept, but a practice of remembering that we are part of something greater. If we choose reverence, curiosity, and care, we can build a future where the fruits of human creativity and ingenuity harmonize with the rhythms of the Earth, offering not just solutions to present problems, but a way to an ever more balanced and beautiful world.