This morning at Pop!Tech, presentations were given by a number of inspiring speakers including Dan Gilbert, Carl Honore, and Jonathan Harris.

Dan Gilbert is well known for his writing on happiness, and today he spoke about risk–our ability to deal with the risk of global warming given the nature of our brains. Our brains have evolved for millennia to respond to immediate things. However, often times global warming does not appear to us as a threat for these reasons:

1. It does not have a face. Our brains are accustomed to responding to people and recognizing that they are threatening. If global warming had a gun and was walking toward us, we would recognize and respond immediately.

2. Global warming does not arise emotions of revolt, disgust, and dishonor, as a threat to one of our moral beliefs might create. Since global warming does not arise visceral emotions, as food and sex—we are less likely to be enraged.

3. We see global warming threat to our future, but not to our present.

4. Our brains are sensitive to relative, rather than absolute changes. If a change is slow enough, you cannot recognize it. For example, if someone turns on a candle in a bright room—if changes happen slowly, we are less likely to notice them. GW is a deadly threat, because it “leaves us sleeping in a burning bed”, a gradual change that we are in the early stages of understanding.

Carl Honore spoke about the International Slow Movement, and its contrast to a culture that is obsessed with speed. He states that Slow has a great role to play in the 21st century, because if we learn to unplug, we can be more creative, intelligent, and produce work of higher quality. His message is clear: less is often more—and slower is often better. It is not about working as fast as possible, but as well as possible. He emphasizes how it is not so much about always being slow, but that we need to learn the art of shifting gears.

In Italy, the slow food movement began to raise awareness so that people can take pleasure in food, and recognize how the quality of cultivation and preparation has an impact on our body (digestion, taste, pleasure, etc.) Honore describes how working less can actually mean working better. Some of the most successful schools, countries, and companies promote vacation, free time, and relaxation. By working more slowly, we can take time to process what we learn, and in result be more creative. Additionally, he explains how the constant barrage of electronic equipment actually decreases IQ.

Finally, Jonathan Harris spoke about some of his projects, including We Feel Fine, which in my opinion is one of the most extraordinary and emotional data visualization projects I have ever seen on the web. The content of this site has brought me to tears on numerous occasions. The site aggregates content from all around the web, searching in blogs for variations of the words I feel, I was feeling, etc….Check it out here. Farsi link