The Technology of Hope

Session 1

There has been a long history that brought us from seeing a rainbow in the sky to a deeply understood framework of technologies of how to use colors.

Today, we know how colors work in the eye and in the brain. We know how colors work in poetry and in print. We know, how we can utilize chemical molecules, inks and prints, precision machined optics, computers, pixels, matrix multiplications and shaders plus the whole recorded history of art to design things in color.
The symposium will frame hope as a design challenge: Hope is something which can be designed. Design is a plan to accomplish a particular purpose. Technology allows us to weave design into the fabric of everyday life. Hope is a fundamental source of power. Hope can be professionally created and destroyed. And this is routinely being done by policy makers, politicians, terrorists, product designers, hackers, teachers, journalists, artists and parents.

Is there any hope? We believe it is. But how can we move? In small steps. Where should we start? At the foundations.

 

Constructive Journalism – Maren Urner

While everybody is talking about fact-checking to fight fake news and misinformation, one important ingredient is usually ignored: our brain.

 

The Language of Power – Elisabeth Wegner

Elisabeth Wegner will talk about a pattern language which creates hope by analyzing the rhetoric of political powers. While populist forces around the globe are putting a rhetoric of pseudo-hope to use in order to get elected, Elisabeth Wegner will analyze how they do it. She will show the effects they employ and how their »talking points« may be countered and debunked. Together we will have a look at a metaethical theory for constructing efficient public speech.

Looking at current examples we will see how both politicians and non-politicians can utilize professional talking points to make an impression of kindness, wisdom and – if it is advantageous – to evoke a feeling of hope in potential voters or customers.

HOPE: Power? Force? Or Weakness? – Johanna Disselhoff

A psychological view of the healing and destructive aspects of hope.

Hope can empower us and lead our behaviour. Driven by hope we can visualise our future, can combine our energy and use our ressources. But what happens, when we loose hope? Is hope related to mental illnesses and burnout? Can we trust our hopeful thoughts? And can we use hope as a guidance for our life? This talk will discuss different aspects of and practical experience with hope and (hopefully) deliver some ideas, how to use hope as a ressource for your own life.

Speakers

Elisabeth Wegner

Activist, Philosopher

Lanzarote, Spain