1. Hacking Happiness
How to Give Big Data A Direction
John C. Havens
Founder, The H(app)athon Project
Author, Hacking Happiness
johnchavens.com
@johnchavens
@TEDxIND
Quantified Self. The Internet of Things. Augmented Reality. Each of these technologies reflect aspects of our Digital Identity. Today, the Big Data representing our personal information is controlled by other people, keeping us from fully utilizing the insights based on our words and lives.By taking back our data and understanding how we can take a measure of our lives that embraces technology but also allows us to focus more on optimizing our well-being and the lives of others, we’ll be able to Hack or rethink Happiness in a way that will give Big Data a positive direction to change our world, for good.
-This guy (I think therefore I am).-In the digital world, it’s not until you tweet, or post on FB, or blog, or look at websites and get tracked by cookie data, that you exist. Same with mobile actions. -And while there’s a focus because of the NSA on surveillance and privacy, the bigger issue I see in terms of our wellbeing, or happiness comes in how this data tracking affects our identity and what I call The Personal Data Economy. -Right now, data is tracked largely to know what you like to buy. -Happiness is equated, by the advertising industry with your purchases. -How much you tweet, etc, builds your influence. But you have to constant be updating to keep those scores up. -The connection; our data is being sold and used without our full knowledge and we don’t benefit from it. -We consume products and are asked to produce more data that others monetize.
-Quantified Self (passive data collection, optimize, the NEED TO REFLECT). -”Little Data.” People are becoming more aware how valuable their data is when it refers directly to their health. They also may not be comfortable sharing it, like they would tweeting about a TV show or a meal they just ate. -Passive Sensors-Joke about guy creating app that tells people 6 hours before they have a heart attack-Affective computing; measuring emotions. Going on a date and measuring my heartrate. “Does she make my heart skip a beat?” -This is one of the meanings of, “hacking happiness.” We can now see data in ways we never have before and use it to measure what’s of value in our lives.-You can start to quantify emotions. You see how precious this little data is.
-IOT-Describe how these work FIRST (accelerometer)-Accountability-Google Glass, film this event, accountability. Others can rate your actions. “Why didn’t you help that guy?” -STOP thinking, “but I’m not on Twitter, FB, etc.” Doesn’t make a difference. -Hacking Happiness – Actions will become more important than words in rating people’s influence. The things you sync about your life, and that are synced about you, will form a picture of your identity and your character. “I drink therefore I am.”
-Personal Data Economy will be VISIBLE.-This is how we’ll soon see the world. -What’s critical is what technology you use to see the world. That technology, how you decide to personalize it, will shape how you VIEW the world. -What you view, determines what you value. -It’s the lens you use to see the world.
-Up until 2 years ago, that lens, whatever the brand, scared me. -I didn’t see a positive vision of how we could move forward. -Beyond privacy issues, and people stealing or selling our data, I didn’t see a central methodology that was positive. -This is what I saw. (Explain) Manipulative, using data to get a person to do something they may not want to do. -Right now, today, this is largely how advertising technology works. You’re not supposed to see why you’re motivated to purchase something. -The value is placed on making your consume as much as possible. -It may not be evil. We all buy stuff. But the question to ask is our happiest option of using these amazing technologies to simply know what we want to buy and when? -SEGUE
Marion Waring? (look up) -What we measure matters-Finite resources (for the world and our lives) -Use QS tools to quantify emotions, understand how accountability affects character. -But mostly use the power of passive data collection to TURN THESE THINGS OFF. -REFLECT on our own lives and see how our actions can improve the lives of others. (Positive psychology shows that altruism, compassion, being with family, all these things increase intrinsic happiness and human flourishing).
-These metrics measure life satisfaction, human flourishing. -Multiple measures beyond GDP, wealth. -Happiness comes from measuring things like education, environment, or (here) social support, freedom to make choices.*What might happen if these were the things we measured instead of just money/productivity? *What if we used our Little Data to optimize our health, our wellbeing, our emotions, and also increase our influence more by being altruistic than increasing our influence? -**MENTION HAPPATHON PROJECT HERE – WE’RE HACKING HAPPINESS IN CITIES, WITH SENSORS, ETC.
That’s a world where we’ve hacked happiness and given big data a direction.
