Alma mater University of Miami Education University of Miami Parents Linda Mishkin | Role Television Personality Name Jason Silva TV shows Brain Games | |
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Born February 6, 1982 (age 42) ( 1982-02-06 ) Caracas, Venezuela Main interests Film, philosophy, future studies People also search for Apollo Robbins, Jerry Kolber, Adam Davis, Jason Williams, Isaac Holub, Allan Butler Nominations Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series Or Special Influenced by Timothy Leary, Ray Kurzweil, Buckminster Fuller, Terence McKenna Profiles | ||
Jason Silva: The Power of AWE
Jason Luis Silva (born February 6, 1982) is a Venezuelan American television personality, filmmaker, and public speaker. His goal is to use technology to excite people about philosophy and science. The Atlantic describes Silva as "A Timothy Leary of the Viral Video Age". Silva, a former presenter on Current TV, lectures internationally on such topics as creativity, spirituality, technology and humanity, writes and produces short films, and co-hosts National Geographic's Brain Games.
Contents
- Jason Silva The Power of AWE
- Personal life
- Career
- Public speaking
- Current TV
- Brain Games
- Origins The Journey of Humankind
- Guest appearances
- Shots of Awe
- Other appearances
- Other accomplishments
- References
Personal life
Silva was born in Caracas, Venezuela. His mother, Linda Mishkin, an artist, is Ashkenazi Jewish. His father, Luis Manuel Silva, converted to Judaism, but, according to Silva, they were secular and lived in a household "more akin to a Woody Allen film" with lots of humor and love for art and theater. He is also brother to Jordan Silva and Paulina Silva.
Inspired by Charles Baudelaire's Hashish House, Silva's obsession with filmmaking and documentation started as a teenager when he hosted "salons" at his house to discuss ideas. Video, rather than pen, became his preferred way to memorialize what he calls "ecstatic moments". For Silva, it is not enough to "feel" the experience. These moments need to be "narrated in real time."
Silva earned a degree in film and philosophy from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. He, along with Max Lugavere, produced and starred in a video documentary/performance piece entitled "Textures of Selfhood." The short, experimental film about hedonism and spirituality based on Silva's and Lugavere's life in Miami, gained the attention of Current producers who were looking for "passionate storytellers".
Silva currently lives in New York City.
Career
Silva is a self-described wonder junkie and performance philosopher, a term he first heard on a website called Space Collective by Rene Dallier. He uses television, online media and lecture halls to share his perspectives. For example, in the video The Mirroring Mind, Silva "explores human consciousness and the creation of that consciousness through self-reference."
Public speaking
An active and prolific speaker, Silva has spoken at Google, The Economist Ideas Festival, the prestigious DLD Digital Life Design Conference in Munich, TEDGlobal, the Singularity Summit, the PSFK Conference, and the Festival of Dangerous Ideas.
At TEDGlobal in June 2012, Jason premiered a short video entitled "Radical Openness". In September 2012, Silva presented his Radical Openness videos at the opening keynote at Microsoft TechEd Australia. Radical Openness was also featured in his presentation at La Ciudad de las Ideas conference on November 10, 2012.
In September 2012, he presented "We Are the Gods Now" at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas.
Current TV
From 2005 to 2011, Silva was a presenter and producer on Al Gore's cable network Current TV.
Brain Games
In 2013, Silva and Apollo Robbins became the hosts of Brain Games on the National Geographic Channel. The show explores the brain through interactive games that look at perception, decision-making, and patterning, as well as how easily the brain can be fooled. Experts in psychology, cognitive science and neuroscience appear on the show, as Silva states, "to make sure we're doing the science right." The show, which premiered in 2011, received 1.5 million viewers for episodes one and two and set a National Geographic record as the highest rated series launch in that channel's history.
"The experience of being tricked or fooled or made aware of a shortcoming makes you curious. It makes you kind of get up from your seat a little bit and be like 'How did that work?'"
Origins: The Journey of Humankind
Released in 2017 as a part of the National Geographic Channel, Jason Silva hosted this short series. 'Origins' explores the very beginning of mankind and rewinds all the way back to the beginning, tracing the innovations that made us modern. The series features 8 episodes of approximate running time of 45 minutes each:
- Spark of Civilization
- Cheating Death
- Money
- Communication
- War
- Shelter
- Exploration
- Transportation There has only been one season confirmed as of yet for Origins.
Guest appearances
On August 15, 2012 he appeared on CBS This Morning. On September 24, 2012 he appeared on Australian ABC program Q&A. and he has appeared as a guest on Season 2 of StarTalk.
"Shots of Awe"
In May 2013, Jason began "Shots of Awe", a YouTube channel on the Discovery Digital Networks TestTube, presenting weekly "micro-documentaries" on creativity, innovation, exponential technology, futurism, metaphysics, existentialism and the human condition. Zoltan Istvan, editor for the Huffington Post, wrote that Shots of Awe is a blend of philosophy and art and has been massively popular to the younger generation.
Other appearances
In October 2013 he appeared on YouTube for Google and NASA's Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab.
He has appeared multiple times as a guest on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
On March 18, 2014 he was a guest in an episode of SourceFed's Tabletalk.
Other accomplishments
Silva has been featured in The Atlantic, The Economist, Vanity Fair, Forbes, Wired, and many others.
In 2011 he became a fellow at the Hybrid Reality Institute, examining the symbiosis between man and machine.
His film ATTENTION: The Immersive Power of Cinema was part of the exhibition 'KINO und der kinamatografische Blick' ('CINEMA and the cinamatographic gaze'), 20 March - 2 June 2013, at MEWO Kunsthalle in Memmingen (Germany).
In 2014, Silva served as advisor for National Geographic Channel's Expedition Granted competition in which finalists are chosen based on their project's originality, viability and potential impact on either the local or global community.