Tech for Human Agency Library

Human Agency as a North Star for Tech Development

This collection explores a critical tension in our digital age: the struggle between technology systems and incentives that increasingly centralize and consolidate control, and the tools that enhance human agency and self-determination. The intellectual history of this space is extensive and rich; what emerges from these documents is the revelation that control over personal data and digital identity determines our thoughts, decisions, and democratic processes.

At the center lies the concept of agentic technology—systems designed to amplify human agency rather than diminish it. This movement, exemplified by a growing rebel alliance of technologists, challenges surveillance capitalism's business model of behavioral modification through intimate data collection. The collection traces philosophical foundations from classical liberal thinkers like Mill, Hayek, and Tocqueville to contemporary frameworks for privacy, decentralization, and user sovereignty.