Jason Silva: Let Your Ideas Be Noble, Poetic and Beautiful

Socrates /

Posted on: October 4, 2010 / Last Modified: December 18, 2021

Jason Silva and me @ GF2045

In today’s edition of Singularity Podcast, I’ve had the privilege of doing an interview with Jason Silva. I enjoyed talking to Jason immensely and have to admit that I was fascinated by his impassioned, enthusiastic and poetic take on the singularity and our reach for immortality.

If there is one thing, however, that I will personally keep from this first conversation with Silva, it will be the following long but absolutely profound quote from the Imaginary Foundation that he shared with me during the interview:

“We live in a society in which spurious realities are constructed by the media, by governments, and by big corporations. We are bombarded with pseudo realities fabricated by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated mechanisms. Perhaps for many designers, irony is the only possible response to a media space where it’s impossible to distinguish reality from manipulation.

Yet the imaginary foundation is future-focused, and always has been, so we’re exploring what comes after we push through the darkness; we’re already revelling in the beauty on the other side of the looking glass. And believe me, it’s wonderful. Living creatively and joyfully requires dismissing gloom, defeatism, and negativism. We acknowledge problems, but we do not allow them to dominate our thinking and our direction. So we prefer to be for rather than against, to create solutions rather than to protest against what exists. There are things worth believing in; there are things worth being passionate about; and so our action must not be a reaction but a creation. For ideas catch the dewdrops and reflect the cosmos, so let those ideas be noble, let them be poetic and let them be beautiful.”

Who is Jason Silva?

You might recognize Venezuela-born Jason Silva from his work hosting shows for Al Gore’s Emmy-winning Current TV network—and from his Gap’s Icon campaign billboards. What you probably don’t know, however, is that he is also a documentarian obsessed with the intersection of science, technology, and art, and is working on a new film called Turning Into Gods.

Check out the concept teaser trailer edited by Jason Silva and Sean Puglisi and follow Jason on Twitter to find out when the movie comes out:

Browse More

Why I went Vegan

Our Future, AI and Veganism: 6 Reasons Why I Went Vegan

Socrates

It’s Ethics. Not Tech Ethics.

Dr. Martin Shaw

Modern Bard Dr. Martin Shaw: Be a Story-maker for Your Times

Kevin-Kelly-by-Christopher-Michel-7

Kevin Kelly on Wisdom and Excellent Advice for Living

Émile Torres Preview

Émile Torres on Transhumanism, Longtermism and Existential Risks

Nikolas Badminton on Facing Our Futures

Nikolas Badminton on Facing Our Futures: Futurism is Activism

Greatest Leadership Opportunity Preview

My NBF Contest Pitch: The Greatest Leadership Opportunity of the 21st Century

Massimo Pigliucci on Character and Virtue

Massimo Pigliucci on Story, Virtue, Character and AI