#rp26 speaker Maren Urner: Radically hopeful

According to Maren Urner, looking at the internet currently feels like a kind of race towards destruction: conflicts, wars and disasters, plus the decline of ecosystems and democratic structures – driven by the battle for power and influence waged by the ‘tech bros’. According to the neuroscientist, their main aim is to keep us all in a state of constant fear, rendering us passive and helpless.

However, the human body is not designed for constant fear: ‘Chronic fear not only silences us and amplifies populist voices, it also makes us ill. Despite all the technological advances and constant presence on social media, we are lonelier, more depressed and more anxious than ever before,’ says Maren Urner.

How can we end this destructive race and start building a future worth living? At re:publica 26, the neuroscientist will talk about humanity's secret weapon: hope! Hope helps us imagine and shape the future instead of passively waiting for technological salvation. That makes it the starting point for every social revolution and every step forward.

The Cognitive Scientist and Neuroscientist Maren Urner has been Professor of Sustainable Transformation at Münster University of Applied Sciences since September 2024. In 2016, she co-founded the first ad-free online magazine for constructive journalism, Perspective Daily, and served as its managing director and editor-in-chief until March 2019. She then taught as a professor of media psychology at the Media University of Applied Sciences in Cologne until August 2024. Her three books, Schluss mit dem täglichen Weltuntergang (2019), Raus aus der ewigen Dauerkrise (2021) and Radikal emotional: Wie Gefühle Politik machen (2024), are SPIEGEL bestsellers. At re:publica 24, she spoke about how emotions shape politics.