In de video (TED) legt Harris uit wat hem motiveert, en demonstreert hij drie van zijn fascinerende projecten.

You know, as I look around the world I see a lot of gaps, and I think we like our gaps because they make us feel like we identify with something, some smaller community. But I think that actually, despite our gaps, we really have a lot in common. And I think one thing we have in common is a very deep need to express ourselves. I think this is a very old human desire. It's nothing new.

And so what I do is, I write computer programs that study very large sets of these footprints [expression], and then try to draw conclusions about the people who left them -- what they feel, what they think, what's different in the world today than usual. These sorts of questions.

Het eerste van de drie heet We Feel Fine, en visualiseert de gevoelens van de wereld. Althans, gevoelens die met het internet gedeeld zijn.

What you see here are a madly swarming mass of particles, each of which represents a single human feeling that was stated in the last few hours. The color of each particle corresponds to the type of feeling inside -- so that happy, positive feelings are brightly colored. And sad, negative feelings are darkly colored. "I feel confused and unsure of what the hell I want to do." "I feel gypped out of something awesome here." "I feel so free; I feel so good." "I feel like I'm in this fog of depression that I can't get out of." And you can click any of these to go out and visit the blog from which it was collected. And in that way, you can connect with the authors of these statements, if you feel some degree of empathy.