Tell me about Jason Silva from “Brain Games.”
—Gordon Olivier, Baton Rouge, La.
Jason Silva, 31, is a TV personality, media artist and filmmaker who is very interested in science and technology. He holds a degree in film and philosophy from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla.
The Caracas, Venezuela-born Silva began his TV career on Current TV, where he hosted, wrote and produced more than 100 hours of programming from 2005 to 2011.
After leaving Current, Silva went on to become an in-demand public speaker. He has spoken at TEDGlobal, Google (three times) and keynoted events for Microsoft and IBM. He was also 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.
Silva has been called “the new Carl Sagan” for his poetic, impassioned and inspirational take on scientific and technological advancements. He calls himself “a curator of ideas, inspiration and awe” and uses his filmmaking skills to create short videos that explore the co-evolution of humans and technology.
Silva lives in New York City and is currently in production as the host of National Geographic Channel’s “Brain Games,” which explores how easily our brains can be tricked and misdirected.
“I think people really like playing the games because they’re not used to being tricked so effortlessly,” he says of his new job. “All you’ve really got to do is follow the on-screen instructions and before you know it, you’re falling down the rabbit hole and you’re having this experience that is akin to ‘The Twilight Zone.’ Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, man, how did that happen?’”
