A guaranteed recipe for terrible tech that makes human lives worse seems to be when some tool becomes mandatory and the makers of that tool are not directly incentivized by the flourishing of the people who use it.

Examples off the top of my head:

Example: People with type 1 diabetes who need insulin pumps, like in this terrible story that got this thread rolling: https://www.publicbooks.org/the-danger-of-intimate-algorithms/">https://www.publicbooks.org/the-dange...

Example: mandatory work software. I have a pet theory that a lot of death and suffering (semi-directly) comes from the terrible usability of EMR software that doctors, nurses, and other allied health folks are forced to use.

Example: when the law forces people to use something, like just about every parking meter ever.

Example: when physical barriers are put in place so that the alternative is very difficult, like in just about every elevator ever, especially ones that require keycard access to "activate" access to certain floors.