Social Welfare Computing is an emerging discipline that seeks to direct technology to cause minimum societal disruption, and in particular seeks to minimize the harm caused directly by technology itself. This is markedly different from the better-understood uses of technology to create value or to address existing social needs. Innovative technologies that are widely adopted created significant value for their users; otherwise, they would not be widely adopted. Often the companies that create them obtain new sources of wealth and power, which inevitably lead to new forms of abuse of power and new forms of societal disruption. Societal disruption in turn requires social adaptation, including new regulations to influence the behavior of firms and to define and to protect the rights of individuals in the changed society. The governance of online business models is complex because regulators must meet the conflicting objectives of different segments of society, and because regulators must avoid imposing restrictions that stifle innovation. Social Welfare Computing seeks to guide social adaptation, combining insights from disciplines as varied as anthropology, business strategy, economics, strategic planning, and law.

社会福利计算是一门新兴学科，旨在引导技术对社会造成最小的破坏，特别是寻求将技术本身直接造成的危害降至最低。这与更好理解的利用技术创造价值或满足现有社会需求的用途明显不同。被广泛采用的创新技术为其用户创造了巨大的价值；否则，它们将不会被广泛采用。创建它们的公司通常会获得新的财富和权力来源，这不可避免地会导致新形式的权力滥用和新形式的社会混乱。反过来，社会颠覆需要社会适应，包括影响公司行为的新法规，以及在变化的社会中定义和保护个人权利。在线商业模式的治理是复杂的，因为监管者必须满足不同社会阶层的相互冲突的目标，并且因为监管者必须避免施加限制创新的限制。社会福利计算旨在指导社会适应，结合人类学、商业战略、经济学、战略规划和法律等不同学科的见解。