Beyond the attention economy, towards an ecology of attending. A manifesto

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Beyond the attention economy, towards an ecology of attending. A manifesto

Review (2025)

Author(s)

Gunter Bombaerts (Eindhoven University of Technology)

Tom Hannes (Eindhoven University of Technology)

Martin Adam (University of Victoria)

Alessandra Aloisi (University of Oxford)

Joel Anderson (Universiteit Utrecht)

P. Sven Arvidson (Seattle University)

Lawrence Berger (Marist College)

Stefano Davide Bettera (European Buddhist Union)

Enrico Campo (University of Milan)

Laura Candiotto (University of Pardubice)

Silvia Caprioglio Panizza (University of Pardubice)

Anna Ciaunica (Universidade de Lisboa)

Yves Citton (University of Paris 8)

Diego D´Angelo (Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg)

Matthew J. Dennis (Eindhoven University of Technology)

Natalie Depraz (Université de Rouen)

Peter Doran (Queen's University Belfast)

Wolfgang Drechsler (Tallinn University of Technology)

William Edelglass (Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)

Iris Eisenberger (University of Vienna)

Mark Fortney (Dalhousie University)

Beverley Foulks McGuire (University of North Carolina Wilmington)

Antony Fredriksson (University of Pardubice)

Peter D. Hershock (East–West Center)

Soraj Hongladarom (Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University)

Wijnand IJsselsteijn (Eindhoven University of Technology)

Beth Jacobs

Gabor Karsai (Dharma Gate Buddhist College in Budapest)

Steven Laureys (Laval University)

Thomas Taro Lennerfors (Uppsala University)

Jeanne Lim (Being AI Corporation)

Chien Te Lin (Tzu Chi University)

William Lamson (Friends of Attention, Strother School of Radical Attention)

Mark Losoncz (University of Belgrade)

Lavinia Marin (TU Delft - Ethics & Philosophy of Technology)

Bence Peter Marosan (Budapest Business University)

Chiara Mascarello (Ca' Foscari University Venice, Italian Buddhist Union Research Centre)

David L. McMahan (Franklin & Marshall College)

Jin Y. Park (American University)

Nina Petek (University of Ljubljana)

Anna Puzio (University of Twente, University of California)

Katrien Schaubroeck (Universiteit Antwerpen)

Shobhit Shakya (Tallinn University of Technology)

Juewei Shi (Nan Tien Institute)

Elizaveta Solomonova (McGill University)

Francesco Tormen (Ca' Foscari University Venice, Italian Buddhist Union Research Centre)

Jitendra Uttam ( Jawaharlal Nehru University)

Marieke van Vugt (University Medical Center Groningen)

Sebastjan Vörös (University of Ljubljana)

Maren Wehrle ( Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam)

Galit Wellner (Holon Institute of Technology)

Jason M. Wirth (Seattle University)

Olaf Witkowski (University of Tokyo)

Apiradee Wongkitrungrueng (Mahidol University)

Dale S. Wright (Occidental College)

Hin Sing Yuen (TU Delft - Ethics & Philosophy of Technology)

Yutong Zheng (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

AI Attention Ecology Attention economy Buddhism Mindfulness Technological design

DOI related publication

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-025-02405-8 Final published version

To reference this document use

https://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:50b95dd9-6a02-41c3-8ccd-6d964e8a8f63

More Info

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Publication Year

2025

Language

English

Journal title

AI and Society

Issue number

1

Volume number

41

Pages (from-to)

477-492

Downloads counter

245

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Abstract

We endorse policymakers’ efforts to address the negative consequences of the attention economy’s technology but add that these approaches are often limited in their criticism of the systemic context of human attention. Starting from Buddhist philosophy, we advocate a broader approach: an ‘ecology of attending’ that centers on conceptualizing, designing, and using attention (1) in an embedded way and (2) focused on the alleviating of suffering. With ‘embedded’ we mean that attention is not a neutral, isolated mechanism but a meaning-engendering part of an ‘ecology’ of bodily, sociotechnical and moral frameworks. With ‘focused on the alleviation of suffering’ we mean that we explicitly move away from the (often implicit) conception of attention as a tool for gratifying desires. We analyze existing inquiries in these directions and urge them to be intensified and integrated. As to the design and function of our technological environment, we propose three questions for further research: How can technology help to acknowledge us as ‘ecological’ beings, rather than as self-sufficient individuals? How can technology help to raise awareness of our moral framework? And how can technology increase the conditions for ‘attending’ to the alleviation of suffering, by substituting our covert self-driven moral framework with an ecologically attending one? We believe in the urgency of transforming the inhumane attention economy sociotechnical system into a humane ecology of attending, and in our ability to contribute to it.

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