Mind matrix

Futurist and filmmaker, Emmy-nominated TV host Jason Silva describes himself as a cerebral ruminator

September 16, 2014 06:55 pm | Updated 07:45 pm IST - Bangalore:

Wonder junkie, Jason Silva prefers Carl Sagan's term

Wonder junkie, Jason Silva prefers Carl Sagan's term

Ever wondered how your mind works? Tune into Brain Games on National Geographic to get an informed view.

The Emmy-nominated host of Brain Games , Jason Silva, reveals the inner workings of the mind through interactive experiments. “The executive producer of the show invited me to host Brain Games . It has been a wonderful opportunity,” says Jason over phone.

In the show, various facets such as addiction, language, superstitions, patterns, compassion, anger, battle of the sexes and intuition are explored, from which startling facts emerge. Speaking of one of the episodes, Intuition , which is often dismissed as irrational, Jason says: “What we call intuition is the sub-conscious knowledge that we have collected over years of experience. In the show, we ask a series of questions and try to prove that most people follow their intuition.”

A futurist and filmmaker, Jason has generated huge interest on the internet with his short films, Shots of Awe . These short videos has been termed as “philosophical espresso”. Jason explores topics such as technology, science, the evolution of intelligence and even love. “ Shots of Awe is what I am truly thinking about, at any given moment. I am a cerebral ruminator. I work through my cerebral philosophical obsessions through a short video platform.”

The videos are well executed and inspire one to think beyond. “The videos aren’t just flights of fancy of the mind. They are anchored. There is a desire to reconcile the philosophical tangent with closure.”

Jason has been variously termed, as a performance philosopher and an epiphany addict. Ask him how he describes himself and Jason says: “I like the term Carl Sagan coined wonder junkie,” says Jason who grew up in Venezuela and has a degree in philosophy and film.

Jason believes that technology is seeing a rapid and exponential change. He says that technology will amplify our human experience to a point that we cannot comprehend. “The next level of technology is that we are going to put it in our brains.”

Jason has been a television presenter on former US Vice President Al Gore’s Current TV and is a global speaker, and has spoken at TEDGlobal, Google’s Zeitgeist Conference, among others.

Brain Games is aired from Monday to Friday on National Geographic at 9 pm.

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