Wisdom 2.0: Exploring The Power Of Human Connection & Technology

By Rachel Nichols

While advances in technology continue to help make our lives more efficient, we are also becoming increasingly distracted by our devices, and living in the present moment has become more challenging than ever. Solutions to help us digitally detox and bring us back into connection with ourselves and others have been on the rise more recently—there is even technology to help us detox from technology (AppDetox and ShutApp, to name a few). There is also an upcoming gathering coming to San Francisco that will address this topic. 

Wisdom 2.0, the conference that explores how to live with greater presence, purpose and wisdom in the digital age, is coming to San Francisco on February 22-24, and will address the great challenge of our age: “to not only live connected to one another through technology, but to do so in ways that are beneficial to our own well-being, effective in our work, and useful to the world.” 

Community. Connection. Wisdom. Practice.
Wisdom 2.0 will include main stage talks with more than 50 wisdom teachers and speakers, including Jon Kabat-Zinn, Byron Katie, Jack Kornfield, Dr. Dan Siegel and Sharon Salzberg to name a few. There will also be several breakout sessions, which allow for creating deeper connections, a practice room, parties and community dinners.

“There is a power in human connection, in all of us coming together and tuning in together in the same room,” said Wisdom 2.0 founder Soren Gordhamer. “There are all these benefits being connected through the screen, but when we are all together, what we create from that space is often so much more powerful.”

Wisdom 2.0, which drew around 300 attendees in its first year in 2010 and now draws more than 3,000 from all over the world, was founded by Soren, who has strong interests in both living with meaning and purpose as well as technology and how it connects us. Some of the questions that Soren had been exploring that led him to the creation of Wisdom 2.0 were: Can technology help us grow as people or will it just occupy our attention and not serve us in the end? How do we live wisely in a digital world? How do I live a connected life? What is really going to matter on my deathbed and am I really living in a way that is aligned with that? Wisdom 2.0 was born to explore the answers to these questions.

"We are for awareness," said Soren. "There are a lot of amazing things that can develop through technology.” He pointed to the Women's March as an example of this, which developed and spread through social media, especially Facebook. “We aren't looking to stop technology; we are looking to be more thoughtful,” he said. “How can we use technology to serve society?”

What's New: #METOO
This year, Wisdom 2.0 will also focus on “the dawning of a new day that I think Oprah spoke to in her Golden Globe speech,” said Soren. “There is a sense of needing to come together in a new way, and neither political party is set up to do this. It's not about one party winning over the other. We need to find ways to heal from our personal, historical, and societal trauma and begin to revision and re-create a world not based on divisions and different ways of seeing.”

Tarana Burke, founder of #metoo, will be joining Wisdom 2.0 along with wisdom teachers and others to explore this next chapter emerging in our time. “We can't go backwards but we also can't go forward with the current structures of our time. It's time to discover a third way, one based on awareness, wisdom and compassion. We hope to dive more into this at Wisdom 2.0.,” Soren said.

For more information, the full schedule of speakers and events or to purchase tickets, visit www.wisdom2summit.com.