Begin with humanity
Start with a person you could name, not a technology you want to use.
By the end of this lesson
- Write a first answer that names people rather than a solution
- Notice when an answer has quietly become a feature description
- Choose a problem specific enough to check
Watch
Episode B01
The video for this lesson has not been produced yet. The narration below is the same script, and it plays now.
Transcript
The first question about AI should not be: “What can this technology do?” It should be: Who needs help?
The first step of the BEACON Framework is simple: Begin With Humanity. Before choosing the tool, understand the human burden.
Who is confused? Who is excluded? Who is spending hours repeating something that should take minutes? Who cannot find the right information? And who is carrying a burden the rest of us barely notice?
Too many technology projects begin backwards. We find an impressive tool—then search for somewhere to use it. Distributed Virtue starts in the opposite direction.
Before building anything, talk to one person. Ask: What is frustrating you? Where are you losing time? What do you wish someone would make easier? Then listen before you solve.
Only after understanding the need should technology enter the conversation. And sometimes the best answer may not require AI at all. That is not failure. That is judgment.
Today, do not ask what you can automate. Find one burden another person carries—and ask how you can make it lighter.
When technology begins with humanity, innovation becomes service.
The lesson
Almost every project that goes wrong went wrong here, and it went wrong in a way that felt like enthusiasm. Somebody encountered a capability, saw that it was impressive, and went looking for somewhere to apply it. The order is backwards and everything downstream inherits the error, because a solution looking for a problem will always find one that fits badly.
The check is simple and worth applying honestly. Read your first answer and ask whether it contains people. If what you have written describes a thing you would build, you have skipped this step and written the fourth one. Go back.
Specificity matters more than scope. 'Parents struggle with school paperwork' cannot be checked, cannot be disproved, and will not tell you whether anything you build helped. 'Parents at one primary school miss the transport-support deadline because the form arrives in a language most of them do not read' names a place, a mechanism, and a group you could go and speak to.
That last part is the real test. If you cannot identify anyone you could talk to about this by the end of the week, the answer is still too abstract to build from.
Straight from the framework
B — step 1 of 6
Begin with humanity
Who is hurting, confused, excluded, or overwhelmed?
Name a person or a group, not a feature. If the answer is a technology, start again.
Do this in the app
Put the lesson down somewhere real
Create your first beacon. Give it a title and answer the question about who this is actually for.
Done when — Your beacon appears on the dashboard and its problem statement names people.
/dashboardOpen the beacon and fill the first field of the worksheet.
Done when — The worksheet shows one of six steps answered.
/dashboard
Go further
Check yourself