The Human Value Evaluation System (HVES): A Civic Framework for Deliberating Automation

The Human Value Evaluation System (HVES):
A Civic Framework for Deliberating Automation
Companion paper to the Engagement Credit Economy (ECE) dossier
Zenodo record: https://zenodo.org/records/17968310

This working paper introduces the Human Value Evaluation System (HVES), a civic framework designed to support public deliberation over the automation of human roles. Rather than asking whether a task can be automated, HVES asks whether it should be automated, by making the human value embedded in roles visible, contestable, and explicit.

The framework adapts principles from public-interest valuation systems—such as urban tree evaluation and environmental impact assessment—to the domain of labour and service roles. It proposes a structured, role-based evaluation across multiple dimensions, including safeguarding, trust, judgment under ambiguity, empathy, civic cohesion, developmental impact, local knowledge, accountability, and failure severity. Scores are used to structure discussion, not to determine outcomes.

HVES is intentionally non-algorithmic and non-optimising. It does not rank individuals, assign social credit, or prescribe automation decisions. Instead, it provides a shared language through which communities, institutions, and policymakers can justify, contest, or resist automation in roles where human presence is constitutive of the value delivered.

The paper is presented as a working framework, published ahead of large-scale automation pressures, in order to surface trade-offs and failure modes before decisions are framed as inevitable. Mathematical expressions, where used, define bounds and feasibility conditions rather than predictions or forecasts. Jurisdiction-specific calibration and implementation are intentionally deferred.

HVES is designed to complement broader economic and governance frameworks addressing automation, including—but not limited to—the Engagement Credit Economy (ECE). It stands alone as a civic tool for recognising that not all efficiency gains are socially neutral, and that some forms of human work carry value that cannot be captured by cost, speed, or output metrics alone.

Relationship to the Engagement Credit Economy (ECE) Dossier

Section 11 of this paper (“HVES and Incentive Alignment with Surplus Stabilisation”) explicitly situates the Human Value Evaluation System (HVES) within a wider institutional architecture. In particular, it outlines how HVES may interface with surplus-stabilisation mechanisms such as the Engagement Credit Economy (ECE) without imposing mandates or prohibitions. The ECE dossier develops the complementary economic framework for engagement, surplus capture, and stabilisation under automation and is archived separately at https://zenodo.org/records/17968310. The two works are intended to be read as companion pieces: HVES addresses the civic and normative evaluation of human value prior to automation decisions, while ECE addresses the economic reintegration of automation-generated surplus.

Interpretive Note on Illustrative Examples

The role assessments and indicative scores presented in this document are illustrative only. They are not intended to represent definitive judgments of the social importance of any profession, nor to establish fixed rankings across occupations. Human value under the Human Value Evaluation System (HVES) is contextual, situational, and jurisdiction-dependent. The same role may score very differently depending on local conditions, delivery context, vulnerability of affected populations, and the manner in which work is performed.

The examples cited are designed solely to demonstrate how the evaluation framework operates in practice and to surface dimensions of value that may otherwise remain implicit or overlooked. They should not be interpreted as pass–fail determinations, generalised occupational classifications, or normative prescriptions regarding automation eligibility.

Applicability and Review

By making the grounds of automation decisions explicit and contestable, the Human Value Evaluation System (HVES) is compatible with administrative, employment, and public-interest review processes, including tribunal scrutiny. The framework is intended to support reason-giving and procedural transparency, not to substitute for judicial, democratic, or managerial judgment. Its role is to document what considerations were taken into account, how trade-offs were surfaced, and where disagreement was acknowledged, rather than to determine outcomes.