Building The Tech We Want
“There is no magic. It’s just humans trying to figure out what we’re gonna do with each other every damn day.” - Marco Rogers (@polotek)
What a time to be alive. The world feels like a raging dumpster fire and people are trying to survive it however they can. Yet the continued destabilization of modern society is creating a desire and opportunity for people to step up and lead. In the tech industry specifically, we’re seeing movements forming to reimagine technology outcomes, how money flows, as well as the roles and rights of workers. A shift from “growth-at-all-costs” to collective well-being is happening, but it’s challenged by fragmented identities and a lack of infrastructure, resources, and shared knowledge.
Technology now touches nearly every aspect of human life — scaling social, financial, and ecological harm faster than the speed of the institutions meant to protect us. Technology and its effects outpace the norms that govern it, but we can get ahead of that by playing a key role in shaping and maintaining tech culture.
By creating shifts in culture, we change the environment that tech is created in, thrives in, or dies in.
It’s my hope that this $8M initiative I’m leading at Omidyar Network, The Tech We Want, might give it a push.
To Go Far, Go Together
When I joined Omidyar Network, it wasn’t my intention to “shift culture” per se, but I have known for years that we need a collective movement in tech, orienting those of us who have been at the margins toward a shared goal. Turns out that systems change and culture shifts go hand-in-hand. It also became clear that we need to engage a broader group of stakeholders to see larger systemic transformation.
But what are we shifting from and what are we shifting to…? Well, some of y’all have heard me talk about that before.
We should all commit to playing a role in regulating and dismantling existing harmful structures — a world where we minimize harm is non-negotiable — but there are many ways to achieve it. We can’t only spend our time and energy trying to stop harm. We must also begin building alternatives for people to embrace. The tech world desperately needs a more inclusive network of people that can address the pressing challenges that government and “free markets” can’t touch or won’t touch.
It is community that sits in the space between the state and the corporation. Community engagement can spark shifts with ripple effects that address the contradictions within capitalism and democracy. Communities win where individuals cannot: benefitting from collective wisdom; pushing limits and absorbing risk; providing emotional support and motivation; incubating new ideas; and developing rules and mechanisms for accountability. Healthy communities are the most democratic way of testing new approaches to the issues we face when the public and private sector fall short.
I’ve observed people solving tech’s problems from different angles — there’s not one right way or solution — but folks are struggling to weave their efforts together for bigger gains. I’ve seen the activity from many vantage points: startup employee, VC-backed startup founder, nonprofit founder, co-op founder, movement builder, coalition builder. I’m a systempreneur who wants to help coalesce a fragmented network of communities in tech and startups into a new sector — one that’s centered around values like mutualism, reciprocity, inclusivity, repair, sustainability, accountability, and responsible innovation.
Cultural change precedes political change, and I believe that products and services will follow suit, but to get there, we first need to create the conditions for a mutualist sector of leaders and organizations to forge bonds, cross-pollinate, and experiment.
Instead of leaders being in competition or working in silos, we need to foster collaboration and co-creation. Philanthropy has the ability to help catalyze this, and while funders in the field regularly bring grantees and partners together for convenings to share best practices, it’s rarely with the premise of building collective power. The Tech We Want intends to take a different approach, including:
- Thoughtfully curating a diverse group of tech and startup leaders who we recognize as “Luminaries” — entrepreneurs, nonprofit directors, funders, academics, advocates, and creatives who can light a path forward
- Convening Luminaries virtually and in-real life, compensating them for their time to dream and scheme with Omidyar Network about the tech world we want and what it takes to build it together
- Creating the conditions for Luminary collaboration and community power building, including a focus on the well-being of the leaders
- Investing in infrastructure to support a broader ecosystem with a focus on removing obstacles that prevent visionaries from marginalized communities from being successful
- Investing in narrative change activities that support our collective vision for equitable, inclusive tech futures
- Grantmaking to proto-institutions that we believe are needed in a mutualist tech sector
- Working with a talented team comprised of Omidyar Network staff and experienced movement builders to alleviate the project’s operational overhead for the Luminaries
- Making my own work an active practice of sharing power and being accountable to the community
- Creating ways for other funders to commit to this new “how” of philanthropy
We want to create effective systems that foster connection, provide opportunity, and offer the safety and backing needed to make this alternative sector successful. This starting group will expand over time, but right now we are focused on creating alignment and building the community’s “container.”
We Move At the Speed of Trust
I say all this with an awareness that people like me sit in between two worlds: on one side are leaders of communities and audiences who sit at the intersection of tech and justice, and on the other is philanthropy. Institutions come with baggage, and trust in them is deservedly quite low. Reckoning with the role of privilege and power in institutions like philanthropy is not rocket science, but it’s also not easy. It involves so many skills that have historically been overlooked: listening, seeing, and believing. It demands the willingness and ability to change something fundamental within yourself in order to change your organization.
Institutions are made up of people, and many of them want to help and want progress. But the pace of progress remains tied to how long it takes the group to metabolize the pain of change. I’m surrounded by folks at all levels at Omidyar Network who are willing to be pushed, want to be helpful, and are committed to learning, growing, and evolving. Today, it’s an institution that seeks to minimize the gap between who it says it is and how it actually shows up. This work takes time, but the commitment gives me hope that Omidyar Network has the ability to play a meaningful part in this larger movement.
The role of philanthropy should be to take action in the face of suffering, informed by listening and understanding what groups need to tackle addressable problems. We must be good stewards of our power and resources — we should not control, own, or make decisions on behalf of those we aim to support without their consent and partnership. We should be willing to render our own roles obsolete as a result of our success.
Are we decolonizing philanthropy? Possibly. It’s not the point of this project, but is undeniably part of our practice.
Connect. Collaborate. Co-Create.
If you’ve been following along, you may have seen this post last year from Sarah Drinkwater and me about lessons learned from funding initiatives related to responsible tech. What you see in this announcement from Omidyar Network builds on that work. In particular, something we articulated before:
“Looking ahead, we see our work as enabling a diverse community of tech stakeholders to connect, collaborate, and co-create.
…we hope examples will emerge of what we — as an industry and society — want to reward, as we so often see examples of what we want to correct. Working together, we believe a new surge of people, ideas, and examples will shift tech culture.”
We don’t have to wait for philanthropy to be decolonized, for capitalism to be dismantled, or for big tech to be broken up to start building the world that we want. But it’s critically important that we center the people (what they do or don’t do, how they come together, what issues they need to address) over the technology or product. Tech is a series of tools, not the final destination.
Are we building a tech utopia? I doubt it. Building “utopia” and helping to reverse humanity’s path of self-destruction are not the same thing. After months of conversation with the Luminaries and our team, what I can say is that, at a minimum, our vision is in service of technology purposed for collective well-being. We’ll have more to share in the coming months.
This is a systems design experiment — a social experiment — one of many much needed attempts in collective dreaming. I remain completely in awe of the 15 Luminaries who are planting a seed that I hope will grow into something that lives beyond our time. Read more about the leaders contributing to this initiative here.
To ensure lasting change, we need staying power that is sustained over lifetimes — a commitment that hooks deeply into people’s worldview, values, and purpose. People must commit to upholding our mutual interests in perpetuity because the threats we face today can either mean the end of humanity or be the fertile ground to allow a better world to emerge. Neither outcome is inevitable. We are collectively deciding our path with each of our actions, each day.
Follow our journey at thetechwewant.com.
For their part in helping me shape these thoughts, I am so grateful for: Sarah Drinkwater, Ifeoma Ozoma, Mara Zepeda, Vaishant Sharma, Karla Monterroso, Safiya Noble, Deldelp Medina, Abiah Weaver, and Sara Horowitz. I also send much love to The Tech We Want crew and Luminaries for their wisdom, guidance, and keeping me on my toes.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! 🥰 If you liked it, show me some ❤️ and make it clap. 👏🏾
