The annual Wisdom 2.0 conference took place last week, April 7 and 8, in Mountain View, CA in the Computer Museum. The format for the conference was in-person and virtual – for many presenters and attendees, this was the first time since the start of the pandemic to be together with others, face-to-face, in one room. The energy and excitement was palpable!
The tagline for this conference is “merging wisdom and technology” and I have attended it every year for the past 10 years. For a number of reasons, this year’s conference was particularly meaningful for me. First, the simple recognition that it is a gift and critically important to be physically together with other humans - touching, laughing, eating together. In addition, I was blessed with the gift of having the company of friends from our South Reno Mindfulness community during the conference – thank you Vickey, Chuck, Janet, and Barb. Finally, having retired from the University of Nevada last year and not being distracted by thoughts related to work commitments, I was able to be fully present with what unfolded at the conference.
The theme for the conference was “emergence.” Appropriately referring to us slowly emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic after two years of social distancing, isolation, mask wearing and extreme levels of uncertainty and the need to be flexible, innovative, and adaptive. As always, the conference speakers were inspiring, offering insights into the crucial issues of life today. The highlights for our little group from Reno include Richard Davidson’s interview about the science of meditation, Paul Hawken’s reflections on climate change, Shelly Tygielski’s presentation on her Pandemic of Love work and her appeal to us “to show up,” Jack Kornfield’s comments on the state of the world, Eldra Jackson’s III invitation into a healthy relationship with fear, and Tristan Harris’ outstanding presentation on his thoughts about technology, mindfulness and the future of humanity.
In case you would like to watch some of the talks, I am including the youtube links for the recordings from the conference:
Wisdom 2.0 | Emergence Day One | April 7, 2022
Wisdom 2.0 | Emergence Day Two | April 8, 2022
In some of the upcoming blogs, I will share my reflections on specific presentations, especially our favorite ones!
