Jason Silva
Futurist, Host of Nat Geo's "Brain Games"
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Biography Print Bio
“Part Timothy Leary, part Ray Kurzweil, and part Neo from ‘The Matrix.’…”
Host of Nat Geo’s Brain Games, which premiered to the highest premiere ratings in National Geographic’s history, JASON SILVA is an extraordinary new breed of philosopher who meshes philosophical wisdom of the ages with an infectious optimism for the future. Combining intriguing insights and a mastery of digital film-making, Jason delivers “philosophical shots of espresso” which unravel the incredible possibilities the future has to offer the human race.
Called the “Timothy Leary of the Viral Video Age” by The Atlantic, Jason draws from his experiences as a television personality, a media artist, a filmmaker, and a techno-philosopher to share his inspirational take on scientific and technological advancements. Using his series of short videos, which play as “movie trailers for ideas,” Jason explores the co-evolution of humans and technology and have garnered over 2 million views.
Jason’s riveting on-stage delivery style, and his hyper-enthusiastic insights on creativity, innovation, technology, philosophy and the human condition are equally unique and mind-blowing. An “Idea DJ” and a visual poet, Jason is above all, an optimist and a curator of ideas, inspiration and awe.
From 2005 to 2011, Venezuela-born Silva was a presenter on Current TV, the Emmy-winning, independent cable network started by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, where he hosted, wrote and produced more than 100 hours of original content.
An active and prolific speaker, Jason has spoken at TEDGlobal, Google (three times), and keynoted events for Microsoft and IBM. He has also created videos for GE, Samsung, Adobe and Autodesk. He was a featured speaker at The Economist Ideas Festival, The Festival of Dangerous Ideas, the DLD Conference in Munich, The Singularity Summit, the PSFK Conference, Mexico’s Ciudad De Las Ideas and Seattle’s Interactive Conference.
Jason has been featured in CBS News, The Atlantic, The Economist, Vanity Fair, Forbes, Wired, TED.com, IO9, Huffington Post, BigThink, and BrainPickings, among others and he was also featured as part of the Gap “Icons” campaign.
Jason resides in New York City and is currently in production hosting the new series “Brain Games” for the National Geographic Channel.
Speech Topics
- Innovation
Jason has presented his work twice at The Economist Ideas fest, including giving a presentation on "innovation and inspiration" at their Berkeley event. Jason elucidates the relationship between 'out of the box thinking' and innovation-- and highlights the role of "inspiration" in de-conditioning our thinking" in order to arrive at these innovative, insightful moments. He has spoken at numerous advertising agencies on this topic as well, including at Berlin/Cameron United and Saatchi and Saatchi's 7x7 event. - Creativity
People say 'creativity is just putting things together"... and this is exactly what Jason addresses when explaining creativity--- His talks focus on "expanding our associative net" and teaching ourselves to look for patterns across seemingly disparate areas.. He talks about the importance of removing ourselves from habituated mental patterns and pulling ourselves drastically out of context in order to "gawk in amazement at the ubiquitous everyday wonder's we're culturally conditioned to ignore" and have creative insights. - Technology
The rapid, exponential growth rate of technological development is transforming our world, disrupting established industries and leading us towards a radical transformation in many key areas. There are 3 overlapping revolutions occurring in biotechnology, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence, all of which game-changers. Jason's unique approach towards placing these transformations in context and "looking at the big picture" has made him a sought after speaker who brings an enthralling vision of what's next. - Awe / Wonder
People are always looking for inspiration and AWE, but only recently did a study from Stanford confirm that TRANSCENDENT AWE has numerous health benefits. But how do we put ourselves into these states of Wonder and Awe? Jason's highly viral series of short films have literally ignited a conversation about the role of content and media in creating "awe-inspiring" experiences. His video and talk look at AWE as a pivotal ingredient in making ideas resonate and disseminate. As a self-professed "epiphany addict and wonderjunkie", Jason has been compared to Carl Sagan for his unique ability to convey a sense of awe with this talks and work.
MEDIA GALLERY
Interview: On His Wildly Popular Viral Videos
Article: The Future Is Co-Mingled Sensation and Co-opted Dreams
Article: On Humans Turning Into Gods
Article: On "TechnoOptimism"Article: On Radical Openness
Article: Timothy Leary For The Viral Video AgeREVIEWS
"Jason was wonderful! Everyone I spoke to mentioned his talk, and of course his infectious energy, and he was absolutely swamped with people wanting to speak to him at the after party. He was wonderful to work with and we were so honored to have him!!"- Director of Community Partnerships, Chicago Ideas Week
"Jason and the event was fabulous and the feedback from our employees has been very good. Jason was very inspiring,"- Executive Manager of Strategic Communications, Commonwealth Bank
"It went really well!! Very positive feedback and you definitely set the mood for the opening General Session. You were a pleasure to work with and captured the enthusiasm we were looking for perfectly!"- Adobe Systems, Inc.
"Jason was great. He made quite an impact. Love to work with him again in the future!"- Senior Analyst, Sogeti Netherlands
"It was great to have Jason in Abu Dhabi. We are still receiving great feedback from everybody. You helped us to make our event a great success."- Marketing Leader, SWG. Middle East and North Africa, IBM
"On behalf of the entire team: Thank You! Thank You! Thank YOU! Without your insights, expertise, and willingness to share knowledge and ideas, Canadian Music Week simply could not happen. The feedback we received was incredible!"- Conference Manager, Canadian Music Fest
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