forty years ago Steve Jobs said that
computers represented a revolutionary
step towards cooperating but is this
what we’re seeing in some ways our
recent technology helps bring us
together but in many ways it disconnects
and divides us the Internet has helped
disrupt and solve many problems in our
world but it’s yet to disrupt what I
believe is the world’s biggest problem
the way that we interact with and treat
each other imagine if we could disrupt
the violence imagine if we could disrupt
the barriers between us just imagine for
a minute if this technology can allow us
to create a more empathetic and more
civilized world
it’s my deep belief that once we begin
to treat each other better and interact
the more civilized and constructive ways
the other problems in the world will
slowly begin to fade Martin Luther King
said darkness cannot drive out darkness
only light can do that well this is the
light that I want to shine how many
people remember seeing this video how
many people know what happened to these
two men after this video surfaced it
looks like no one okay well in a minute
I’m going to show you what happened
afterwards but before we get there I
want to ask the question why why is it
that so few people know what happened
after this video surfaced it’s because
our news media thrives on conflicts
divisions and tragedies they dehumanize
us it’s a media culture of scrutinised
from a distance rather than engage
face-to-face but we can do that so
easily today given the technology at our
finger
tips so I’ve been spending the past few
years building at a platform that we
call panacea which is devoted to
humanizing those of us who have been
dehumanized by the media or society at
large it’s a place for people to address
each other face to face in front of an
audience in a more constructive setting
when a news story hits and the pitchfork
mobs come out to pounce on people when
they’re most vulnerable we bring them in
to draw empathy and help them learn from
their mistakes and improve from them at
the peak of the presidential race John
McGraw on Rakeem Jones became symbols
not only of the political divisions but
also the racial divisions and the media
divisions certain outlets painted John
negatively while others painted Rakeem
negatively what do you think happened
when I reached out and offered them an
opportunity to speak to each other
face-to-face with a moderator at first
there was some apprehension but
ultimately they agreed since we offer
participants the ability to speak from
separate locations this removes tension
and any threats of violence it also
allows them to speak in a setting that’s
more natural and more comfortable for
them and a court order prevented them
so after just a few minutes of calm open
dialogue the whole narrative did a 180
they looked at each other and realized
this is just a human like me at the end
of the discussion they exchanged kind
words and when they stood in front of a
judge a month later they hugged and John
even shed a few tears John and rocky
confirm what we all know but fail to
practice in our own lives open dialog
can solve so many of our interpersonal
conflicts we have a tendency to prejudge
and assume to know the motives of other
people we often overreact as a result of
what we wrongly assume face-to-face open
dialogue is the only true way to
understand the true motives and
perspectives of other people John and
Rahim also remind us that we’re all
imperfect and we all make mistakes the
question is as a society how should we
best deal with our mistakes afterwards
should we run away should we ostracized
people should we pursue punishment or
revenge Gandhi said that forgiveness is
the attribute of the straw which brings
me to the series we’ve started going
into the prisons to facilitate dialogues
between those behind bars and those on
the outside directly impacted by their
crimes this type of format has never
been filmed before as a prelude to these
prison dialogues we’ve been filming
episodes about forgiveness and
reconciliation we brought in Darryl
Greene with Kim Jung Marshall the man
who killed his brother when he was 14 we
brought in Mary Dolan who forgave the
man who killed her daughter
while visiting him in prison we brought
in Pierre Laguerre who forgave the man
thanks to the internet we can bring
these people together and bring their
stories to the world as an alternative
to the status quo the status quo is
fight or flight when confronted with
adversity or conflicts with others the
status quo is revenge which makes so
many small problems in society get so
much bigger our participants are doing
the opposite by confronting those
uncomfortable truths head-on our
participants are engaging in tough
courageous conversations that bring them
closer together and alter their lives
the early innovators who brought us this
technology were it motivated so that we
can hide behind our screens
it’s a ridicule and fight people like
Steve Jobs Steve Wozniak Lee felsenstein
and Richard Stallman they saw this
technology as a new way to connect to
share and to humanize they saw it as a
way to disempower the powerful and
empower everyone can we follow in the
footsteps of these amazing innovators
and use this technology for what they
envisioned can we disrupt long-standing
cultural norms that don’t work and need
to be replaced I believe that we can in
our lifetimes
thanks to this awesome power brought to
us by these amazing innovators for the
first time in history we now have the
technology to radically improve the way
that we interact with and treat each
other after that
the possibilities for the future have no
limits or barriers please join me thank
you [Applause]
computers represented a revolutionary
step towards cooperating but is this
what we’re seeing in some ways our
recent technology helps bring us
together but in many ways it disconnects
and divides us the Internet has helped
disrupt and solve many problems in our
world but it’s yet to disrupt what I
believe is the world’s biggest problem
the way that we interact with and treat
each other imagine if we could disrupt
the violence imagine if we could disrupt
the barriers between us just imagine for
a minute if this technology can allow us
to create a more empathetic and more
civilized world
it’s my deep belief that once we begin
to treat each other better and interact
the more civilized and constructive ways
the other problems in the world will
slowly begin to fade Martin Luther King
said darkness cannot drive out darkness
only light can do that well this is the
light that I want to shine how many
people remember seeing this video how
many people know what happened to these
two men after this video surfaced it
looks like no one okay well in a minute
I’m going to show you what happened
afterwards but before we get there I
want to ask the question why why is it
that so few people know what happened
after this video surfaced it’s because
our news media thrives on conflicts
divisions and tragedies they dehumanize
us it’s a media culture of scrutinised
from a distance rather than engage
face-to-face but we can do that so
easily today given the technology at our
finger
tips so I’ve been spending the past few
years building at a platform that we
call panacea which is devoted to
humanizing those of us who have been
dehumanized by the media or society at
large it’s a place for people to address
each other face to face in front of an
audience in a more constructive setting
when a news story hits and the pitchfork
mobs come out to pounce on people when
they’re most vulnerable we bring them in
to draw empathy and help them learn from
their mistakes and improve from them at
the peak of the presidential race John
McGraw on Rakeem Jones became symbols
not only of the political divisions but
also the racial divisions and the media
divisions certain outlets painted John
negatively while others painted Rakeem
negatively what do you think happened
when I reached out and offered them an
opportunity to speak to each other
face-to-face with a moderator at first
there was some apprehension but
ultimately they agreed since we offer
participants the ability to speak from
separate locations this removes tension
and any threats of violence it also
allows them to speak in a setting that’s
more natural and more comfortable for
them and a court order prevented them
so after just a few minutes of calm open
dialogue the whole narrative did a 180
they looked at each other and realized
this is just a human like me at the end
of the discussion they exchanged kind
words and when they stood in front of a
judge a month later they hugged and John
even shed a few tears John and rocky
confirm what we all know but fail to
practice in our own lives open dialog
can solve so many of our interpersonal
conflicts we have a tendency to prejudge
and assume to know the motives of other
people we often overreact as a result of
what we wrongly assume face-to-face open
dialogue is the only true way to
understand the true motives and
perspectives of other people John and
Rahim also remind us that we’re all
imperfect and we all make mistakes the
question is as a society how should we
best deal with our mistakes afterwards
should we run away should we ostracized
people should we pursue punishment or
revenge Gandhi said that forgiveness is
the attribute of the straw which brings
me to the series we’ve started going
into the prisons to facilitate dialogues
between those behind bars and those on
the outside directly impacted by their
crimes this type of format has never
been filmed before as a prelude to these
prison dialogues we’ve been filming
episodes about forgiveness and
reconciliation we brought in Darryl
Greene with Kim Jung Marshall the man
who killed his brother when he was 14 we
brought in Mary Dolan who forgave the
man who killed her daughter
while visiting him in prison we brought
in Pierre Laguerre who forgave the man
thanks to the internet we can bring
these people together and bring their
stories to the world as an alternative
to the status quo the status quo is
fight or flight when confronted with
adversity or conflicts with others the
status quo is revenge which makes so
many small problems in society get so
much bigger our participants are doing
the opposite by confronting those
uncomfortable truths head-on our
participants are engaging in tough
courageous conversations that bring them
closer together and alter their lives
the early innovators who brought us this
technology were it motivated so that we
can hide behind our screens
it’s a ridicule and fight people like
Steve Jobs Steve Wozniak Lee felsenstein
and Richard Stallman they saw this
technology as a new way to connect to
share and to humanize they saw it as a
way to disempower the powerful and
empower everyone can we follow in the
footsteps of these amazing innovators
and use this technology for what they
envisioned can we disrupt long-standing
cultural norms that don’t work and need
to be replaced I believe that we can in
our lifetimes
thanks to this awesome power brought to
us by these amazing innovators for the
first time in history we now have the
technology to radically improve the way
that we interact with and treat each
other after that
the possibilities for the future have no
limits or barriers please join me thank
you [Applause]
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