The Transcendental Values in Building Tech Products - Part 1: Truth

It is usually uncommon to marry philosophy and engineering. At least it was for me. We hardly ever mixed those diametrically opposite fields in the school system that I took part in. Thus, I grew up believing that by becoming a software engineer, I wouldn't have to deal with those pesky social sciences that I was quite apathetic about back then. My perception was that by choosing the technical side, you get rid of the other, social one, and you won't have to mind it ever again in your life. I grew up understanding that this is increasingly being proven wrong with a phenomenon that occurs so often that we hardly ever question it anymore, technological dependency.

In the last few decades, the world faced a transition where computers and software have become the very fabric of our society. We who build it have to become very conscious of what we do. What is the reason behind it? How ethical is it? Is it in the best interest of everyone involved? The ever-growing presence of technology in our everyday lives and the exponential growth of dependence on it begs a philosophical debate within ourselves about meaning, fusing the seemingly dissonant technical and social fields.

Transcendentals

Truth, goodness, and beauty are cosmic values that communicate divine meaning to the intellectual, moral, and aesthetic capacities of the human soul, which brings a balance in the soul, which, in turn, harmonizes the human person with divine meaning and purpose of the cosmos, which was considered the prerequisite to human flourishing.

- Steve Turley

There is a framework in philosophy and metaphysics by which prominent thinkers in human history ascribed the essence of existence. Since the beginning of our time, humans have longed for answers to questions like 'What is true?' What is right? What is beautiful?' Transcendentals are the questions that seek the nature of reality, the values that represent the time-independent attributes of being. Truth, Goodness, and Beauty - prerequisites to human flourishing.

With technology becoming increasingly present in our everyday lives, it is fair to attempt to project those values to software development. Let's try to prove that looking at software development through the prism of the three transcendentals is a good approach to ensure our viewpoint is aligned with the concept of human flourishing.

Truth

To say that that which is, is not, and that which is not, is, is a falsehood; therefore, to say that which is, is, and that which is not, is not, is true.

- Aristotle

Many thinkers defined truth discordantly throughout history, and the consensus is that there is no consensus. Aristotle presented the foundation for the philosophical and metaphysical explanation of truth simply by assessing a saying or a thought and whether it corresponds to a given fact. "It is" or "It is not". Of course, over time, other interpretations emerged and opposed Aristotle's correspondence theory, as it is highly debatable whether we should perceive truth as an absolute and mind-independent property or view it relative to one's perspective. For the sake of the point, let's try to assume truth as an attribute of being coherent with fact and reality.

Truth is the foundation of one's thriving, and depriving someone of the truth may have costly consequences. It is an integral part of the foundation of human existence to the extent that it is not a concept that gets explained and learned but assumed and intrinsically understood.

The consequences of not conforming to the truth

If we look closer we will see many examples where we put trust in the technology, but because of “honest“ technological shortcomings, we are deprived of it in the end. The role of social media algorithms, for example, is a colossal driver in shaping the truth and the public perception of it. It’s built to hyper-personalize the content served to the users, showing them content they are likely to interact with, based on their previous activity or preferences. However, this design unintentionally prioritizes biased or false information that tends to generate a strong reaction.

This becomes a complex and critical issue in the face of serious societal events. In the past few years we have witnessed political elections, which outcome can be in big part contributed to spreading fake news on social media. Or, a public health crisis inadvertently made worse by spreading misleading and manipulated content that aligns with the emotional biases of individuals. This challenges the very basis of truth and fact in society and the implications are profound. It is affecting everything from individual beliefs to national policies.

The product of truth is trust

By striving to build human-centered technology, we affirm that our creations will be coherent with users' wants, needs, and habits. Said in the spirit of the iconic German industrial designer Dieter Rams, "Good design is honest". It does not attempt to manipulate the user with promises it can't keep. In that sense, as creators, we must keep our promise that our brainchildren correspond to the truth.

It is fair to assume that a fundamental piece of the puzzle for prosperous human-machine synergy is trust. Trust is a reciprocal response to meeting the user's expectations. The absence of truth shakes the inner feeling of trust, corroding the mutual relationship with the users and robbing us, the providers, of the privilege to make informed decisions at later stages. Therefore truth is the building block and the very essence of human-centered design.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the exploration of truth in software development is a foundational aspect of creating technology that genuinely serves humanity. As we integrate the concept of truth into our design and development processes, we establish a framework that encourages innovation and cultivates trust and reliability. By prioritizing truth, we commit to a path of ethical development and responsible engineering, where the products we create are a testament to our dedication to authenticity and human-centered values.

This is part one of the articles I’m publishing with a simple reason to explore the importance of mirroring the three transcendental values - Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, on the creation process of omnipresent technology and our dependence on it. In the next article, I will explore why Goodness matters and what it means by looking through the prism of building tech products.

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Daniel | Building awesome apps (danielilievski.com)