Humans evolved in a world where information was scarce and vital for survival. In ancestral environments, knowing about the presence of a predator or a change in weather could mean the difference between life and death. This evolutionary pressure hardwired into us an insatiable hunger for information—because knowing more often meant living longer.
For much of human history, information remained a scarce and highly valuable resource. People paid dearly for access to it—through money, time, or social capital. But the rise of the internet flipped this paradigm. In the early 2000s, free newspapers funded by advertisers seemed like a democratizing revolution. Suddenly, it wasn’t the information itself that was for sale—it was our attention. The reader became the product, and corporate interests began to shape the flow and framing of information for profit.
This shift had profound and lasting consequences. Information, once a tool for liberation, became a mechanism of influence. The goal was no longer to educate or empower, but to steer behavior—political, economic, and social—in ways that benefited advertisers, lobbyists, and powerful institutions. Today, this commodification of truth affects nearly every sector, from politics to public health. Nowhere is this distortion more dangerous than in healthcare, where misinformation or hidden conflicts of interest can have life-or-death consequences. That is precisely why we chose to start here.
But there is hope—and it begins with transparency.
Recent studies in behavioral science demonstrate that transparency enhances ethical behavior at the individual level. One study (Melissa Bateson, 2015) found that individuals behave more ethically when they believe their actions are being observed or could be made public. Another (Daniel Nettle, 2013) showed that people are more likely to act fairly and prosocially under conditions of social scrutiny. This makes sense: in environments where actions are visible, people are more likely to align with social norms and internal moral standards.
These insights have powerful implications for corporate accountability. If individuals consistently behave more ethically under conditions of transparency, then increasing visibility into institutional behavior—from financial dealings to lobbying efforts to research disclosures—could push corporations toward higher ethical standards as well. Just as individuals curb selfish or deceptive behavior when they know others are watching, corporations too could become more honest, more accountable, and more human-centered when forced into the light.
In essence, transparency can restore the ethical compass that has been distorted by decades of commercial manipulation. It shifts the focus from controlling perception to enabling informed, autonomous decision-making. And when applied to critical domains like healthcare, it can re-center the mission of care around truth, integrity, and public trust.
This is not just a technological shift—it is an evolutionary return. A reconnection to our roots as a species that depended on truthful signals and collective awareness to survive. Transparency is not just about seeing more—it’s about behaving better. And it may be the key to realigning powerful systems with the values of the people they claim to serve.