Wellness 160: Stanford Course
Radically Human Technology
Enhancing Connection and Wellbeing
Explore the present and future relationships between technology, humanity, and the search for happiness & flourishing
Course Description
About the course
Explore the present and future relationships between technology, humanity, and the search for happiness & flourishing. Investigate and develop the core questions, concerns, ethical considerations, and broad implications of technologies that shape human culture and consciousness. Course draws from science and technology studies, contemplative science, neurophenomenology, positive psychology, biomedical engineering, central nervous system stimulation, and neurofeedback. Evaluate the latest tech, interact with luminaries in the field, and rapid-design your own consumer tech concept, start-up idea.
Term: Fall | Units: 2 | Grading: Satisfactory/No Credit
The “Why” of this Class
Why you should take this class?
The Technology
Over the last few years we’ve seen major advances in science and technology that reveal even more of the human mind, body, and how it can interface to broader society and the world in ways that help all of us to thrive. We’ve also seen how tech can have less desirable consequences on the social fabric and human connection. What is the path forward to a future where tech truly supports human flourishing and exponential wellbeing? While no one knows exactly – through this class you’ll connect with a global community to thoughtfully envision, iterate, and build it.
The Purpose
The purpose of this class is to equip you with the latest thinking and technologies to support your personal growth, success and flourishing, as well as to help you explore building transformative technologies and companies as your way to have a massive positive impact on the world.
The Change
Our world is experiencing tremendous social, political, economic, and technological change. Navigating this change requires that we ask the right questions and address the deepest human needs. Where human thriving, psychological wellbeing, and resolving fundamental questions of meaning or what it truly means to be human might once have been considered luxuries – they will be a requirement for the future of society, work and human consciousness. The universality of this requirement suggests a key role for technology that is scalable, accessible, affordable, ethical, and human centered.
About Transformative Technology
Transformative Technologies are scientifically validated technologies supporting mental health, wellbeing and flourishing. The Transformative Technology ecosystem is the largest global community of entrepreneurs and innovators leveraging tech to expand human joy and possibility. We gather, connect, and inspire our global community in order to stimulate the development of scalable transformative technologies. You can find a lot about Transformative Tech by searching the web, but to save you some time here's a summary article.
The TransTech 200 is the annual list of companies and influencers in the space. It’s a great way to get acquainted with the depth and breadth of what’s happening: http://transtech200.com/. It might also help to view them graphically here:
The Transformative Technology Academy is the first tech startup program that focuses on human wellness, joy and flourishing. It’s touched the lives of entrepreneurs and innovators in hundreds of cities and over 60 countries, and can also help you to understand what is happening in this exciting global ecosystem:
Key Areas
The key areas involved in Transformative Tech
Sensor Tech
Wearables, Hearables, Remote / Environmental
Data Tech
AI, Big Data, Real Time Analytics
NeuroTech
EEG, fMRI
Neurostim Tech
tXCS, tRNS, DBS, CNS, TUS, FUS, TMS
Biofeedback Tech
EDA, Heart, Temp, Breath
Bio Tech
Genetics, Biome
Biostim Tech
Vagus Nerve, Peripheral Nerves
Perception Tech
VR, AR
Sleep Tech
Monitoring, Improvement
Healthy Spaces Tech
Design, IOT, Air, Water, Lighting, Materials
App Tech
Gaming, Gamification, Apps, Social, Behavior
Bio Tech
Genetics, Biome
Course Benefits
The benefits of the course
The instructors for this class co-founded and co-curate the global Transformative Technology ecosystem, and its annual flagship Silicon Valley conference. The event attracts over 700 people from around the world who are working, investing, or just generally interested in the Transformative Tech space. The conference speakers are a great representation of who’s involved in this space and can be seen at http://ttconf.org. This class will involve exposure to and relationship building with these types of individuals. It’s a rare opportunity to gain access to people who are normally very difficult to reach and connect with.
Although instruction will generally follow the flow outlined in this syllabus, this will be a student-centered class. Both immediately, and as the class progresses, the instructors will be looking to your interests to help guide both overall instruction and what ideas, people, and technology you are exposed to. Possible topics span: basic background information and overviews, using the technology to maximize your own personal benefits and impact, surface-level to deep dives on specific technologies, entrepreneurship and raising funding for Transformative Tech, working in the Transformative Tech space, product design and development, and much more. Our goal is for this class to be maximally impactful and personally useful for you, and for it to be the best class you take during your program at Stanford. We need your help and continual feedback to do that, so please provide it!
You are the future. Whether you have declared a specific major or are still searching. Whether you are headed into design, business, technology, the sciences, humanities or another field. As a student at Stanford you are among the most promising minds of your generation, and you’re going to have a magnified impact on the world. Our goals are twofold:
First, we will help you become acquainted with these types of technologies for personal use. Stanford is tough, and the world beyond it can be even tougher. Amazing new tools are being created every day to help you not only perform better, but also flourish in your life. Let us introduce you to them so they can start making a lasting impact on you and what’s possible for you.
Second, we seek to help you better understand how you can have a scalable impact on global human flourishing through Transformative Technologies. No matter what your area of interest, there’s a place for you in the Transformative Technology ecosystem. Often in Silicon Valley people feel confined to traditional opportunities like social media, online advertising, drug discovery biotech, management consulting, venture capital, and similar areas that are well-known and scaled but often aren’t necessarily rewarding. Many people who take these paths later leave them to do work that has more meaning. Transformative Tech allows you to have both from the start – potential scalable reach and impact on human flourishing – if you choose. In this class, we can help you identify and understand the opportunities that exist for you in established Transformative Tech companies as well as help you make progress on your idea for building a new tech company dedicated to expanding and enhancing human wellbeing. As a student in this class, you will get a high level of mentorship, focus, and commitment from us. This is an outstanding opportunity for someone who thinks they want to build Transformative Tech. We’ll use the quarter to help you envision what would inspire you professionally in Transformative Tech and make progress on making it so!
Course Instructors
Meet your instructors
Nichol Bradford, M.B.A.
Nichol Bradford is fascinated by human possibility and how technology can help individuals expand beyond their perceived limits to develop and transform themselves to the highest level. She spent the last decade exploring these ideas in the online game industry, serving as a senior executive with responsibility for strategy, operations and marketing for major brands that include: Activision Blizzard, Disney, and Vivendi. Most recently she managed the operations of Blizzard properties, including World of Warcraft, in China. read more
Jeffery A. Martin, PhD
Jeffery is a scientist, technologist, entrepreneur, and investor who focuses on advancing the highest forms of human wellbeing. He is the founder of the Transformative Technology ecosystem, which promotes the use of science and technology to substantially raise human mental and emotional wellbeing. Since he conceived of and created the space in 2007, he has been a catalyst in bringing together makers, scientists and other researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs, companies, educational institutions, non-profits and NGO’s, public policy experts, and investors. He co-founded the first academic Transformative Tech lab, its first conference, taught the first university-level course, organized the first investor gatherings, and many other firsts. He serves as a formal and informal advisor to a wide range of companies and other organizations in the space, is an active early-stage investor, and is a frequent public speaker on Transformative Technology related topics. read more