About Clarity Academy

I'm Ruairi McNicholas, owner and educator at Clarity Academy.

Technology has been a huge benefit to me. I discovered web design at the age of 12, and decided to forgo college and work for myself as a freelance web designer. This has blessed me with many exciting opportunities and experiences, allowing me to follow my interests and curiosity, live abroad in Thailand for years, and begin planning to start a family with my wife.

But I've also witnessed the damage that technology has caused. I've sat on buses passing through beautiful scenes, and been the only person not glued to their phone (in the past, I was glued too). I've watched social media turn political and ethical debates in my country into unhealthy arguments, rife with personal attacks and misinformation. I've seen my own ability to focus and pay attention, and that of others, be taken away by technology.

For the past six years I've been learning and studying a broad range of topics, such as psychology, evolutionary biology, philosophy, technology, education, and more. This workshop is a culmination of these learnings, and of my time spent teaching a similar workshop to my friends and co-workers.

This workshop embodies my optimistic outlook for all of us - that together we can build a better, brighter, healthier, and happier world here on earth, by developing a better understanding of our hunter-gatherer bodies and brains, and a better understanding of the technologies that we have created. We can, indeed must, create a world in which technology works for and with all of us.

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