TEQnation 2019: Tim van Deursen – Keynote: When technology meets empathy
In a world with more refugees than ever, with new wars flaring up and new walls rising, we need to find better ways to connect and communicate. Tim van Deursen shows how innovative technology can make a difference in humanitarian challenges. His documentary “Meet the Soldier” sends soldiers of rivalling tribes in Karamoja, Uganda, on a virtual reality visit to their enemies. Bridging the gulf of hostility, VR creates understanding, empathy and eventually reconciliation. Tim demonstrates the effectiveness of VR as a mediation tool, an ‘empathy machine’, where real-life contact is blocked by fear and hate.
Bio Tim
Tim van Deursen is an engineer on a mission to make a positive contribution to the world. Tim wants to super charge high-tech efforts needed to solve big global challenges. He believes many such challenges we nowadays have can benefit from smart easy to deploy technology. Technology can and needs to be part of solving global challenges and therefore Tim created team “Hack The Planet” that aims to do exactly this.
