Executive Summary

The Human-Centered Systems Manifesto articulates a set of design principles for building economic and technological systems that prioritize human dignity, transparency, and long-term resilience.

It begins from the premise that persistent inequality, economic fragility, and technological displacement are not primarily moral failures of individuals, but outcomes of incentive structures embedded in modern systems.

The manifesto argues that ethics must be designed into systems at the level of incentives, governance, and infrastructure, rather than applied after the fact.

It advocates for asset-based economic models and human-centered approaches to artificial intelligence that augment human capability rather than replace it.

These principles are implemented across community practice, institutional frameworks, AI governance efforts, and automation infrastructure, demonstrating how bottom-up practice and top-down design can reinforce each other.