The Empulse app and anti-anomie
A core value that shapes our technological work is optimism about the future
The Empulse app was built by the Todreamalife agency in response to a call by Stanford University for ethical AI.
Anomie has been summarized as “the condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals”. But the concept is a little more subtle than that.
Man cannot become attached to higher aims and submit to a rule if he sees nothing above him to which he belongs. To free him from all social pressure is to abandon him to himself and demoralize him.
― Émile Durkheim, Suicide: A Study in Sociology
We created Empulse after attending a Stanford conference focused on ethical critiques of AI. We fully respect the concerns raised, but don’t believe the technology is going away. We believe it’s imperative that humans develop and use technology in alignment with prosocial values.
Here’s why.
About anomie
The term anomie originated from the work of the French sociologist Émile Durkheim, who examined societal mores in pre-WWI France. He concluded that societies can lose common values and common meaning through a process of technological or social change. When this happens. the effect on individual members is one of futility, lack of purpose, emotional emptiness, and despair. This is because people no longer find an accepted definition of what is desirable.
In short, when society changes too fast, people lose direction on their moral compass — and this makes them sad.
Anomie and the epidemic of depression
We live in an era where depression has become normal. Depression affected 8% of American adults in 2016 and 13% over their lifetimes. It is projected to be the leading cause of disease burden in high-income countries by the year 2030.
At Empulse we believe a subtle but hidden cause of this quiet epidemic of sadness is the feeling of anomie brought about by societal response to rapid technological growth.
No one can deny that tech hubs like San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and Austin are experiencing significant homelessness crises. While there are only half-a-million people experiencing homelessness in the US on a given night, it contradicts our societal values for people to experience poverty in a developed nation. In 2016 Los Angeles city voters approved housing-first policies with a 77% margin, showing overwhelming public support for the unhoused.
The result of this mismatch between values and reality is a subtle societal despair felt by anyone who encounters extreme poverty in the context of rapid societal advancement. A metropolitan experience described in the New York Times as an “unsolved, unending crisis”.
So what can we do about it?
Compassionate action as an anti-anomie
It’s important to recognize that Durkheim did not believe anomie was a permanent societal state, simply that it was the result of a disconnect between the current state of society, and previously held societal values.
While we cannot change the pace of technological growth, we can introduce new societal values, that operate in concert with innovation to provide an accepted definition of what is desirable.
Now for the first time communities are taking a stand on extreme poverty and achieving the goal of eliminating homelessness within their communities.
Empulse was founded on the idea that we could use actions of impulsive empathy to both counteract this feeling of anomie and solve the problem of homelessness more efficiently and effectively.
In conclusion
Anomie is a term for the sadness felt when a society lacks moral guidance. We are currently living in an epidemic of sadness in developed nations. One cause for sadness, may be a mismatch between the value of an advanced society and the observation of people experiencing homelessness in tech hubs. At Empulse, we believe this feeling is reversible, and that impulsive empathy can act as an anti-anomie and lead to more happiness among the inhabitants of metropolitan areas.
We hope one day that the term ‘empulse’ will be synonymous with the value of anti-anomie.
Originally published at https://www.theempulse.com on May 28, 2022.
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