Kind: captions
Language: en
hey everybody Welcome to impact Theory
you're here because you believe that
human potential is nearly Limitless but
you know that having potential is not
the same as actually doing something
with it so our goal with this show and
Company is to introduce you to the
people and amazing ideas that are going
to help you actually execute on your
dreams all right today's guest defies
the Convention of all my normal intros
reading a list of his accomplishments
would be to miss the point entirely
while he is the Emy nominated host of
brain games the highest rated show in
Nat Gio's history airing in 45 languages
across 171 countries this modern-day
performance philosopher and filmmaker
cannot be described in terms of
demographics and viewership he must be
experienced you have to let him crawl
inside your mind clear the cobwebs and
paint on the walls of your brain like an
artistic cave dweller showing you a
vision of the world not as it is but as
it could be his infectious optimism has
earned him the name of Wonder junkie but
from where I'm sitting he is the Wonder
dealer his shots of awe will leave
anyone scratching for more he spins
ideas into a magical tapestry of
intellectual ecstasy like an IA DJ in
the height of their powers his beautiful
transcend
and Paradigm shifting micro
documentaries may be born out of
existential anxiety but they so
manifestly capture the agony and Ecstasy
of The Human Experience that they've
been viewed over 100 million times his
poetic cosmological musing smashed
together Shakespearean drama with Sean
esque profundity like the hey drun
collider smashes particles resulting in
the same degree of revelatory fireworks
so
please help me in welcoming the host of
the allnew National Geographic show
about the birth and Rise of the human
species itself Origins the one and I
assure you only Jason
Silva
welcome so good to have you here thank
you for having me back absolutely I uh
thank you for that introduction that is
that is truly truly a pleasure writing
that for you you have no idea that was
the most fun I've ever had writing an
intro I was a wee bit um indulgent in my
desire to have beautiful language I but
I think you warrant it you know I I
appreciate that and um and it gives me
chills to know that my work has touched
you that way because I sense a kindred
spirit and something that I share with
you is an enthusiasm to C celebrate
those that have touched me and inspired
me um you've heard me ranting and raving
about stepen Cotler and Jamie wheel and
the folks behind neurohacker that I was
telling you about before um and I I
can't overemphasize my passion for those
that have affected me and I think a lot
of the fuel for my work is simply a
desire to give back in some fundamental
way like I have been shaken by
literature and ideas and media and film
and individuals across the world and I
have been shaken and touched with such a
sort of profound intensity that I have
had no choice but to respond in some way
you know my favorite one of my favorite
thinkers Ernest Becker used to say the
difference between the artist and the
neurotic is that the the neurotic is
precisely the one who cannot create and
so he chokes in his intro version that's
actually really interesting yeah but the
neurotic and the artist are both super
sensitive they both take in the world
with intensity but again the neurotic
cannot create so he chokes on his introv
versions whereas the artist takes in the
world and reworks it into his art and
and so that that's really my attempt and
my inspiration but you know I see that
you are in turn doing that as well
because I sensed Artistry in your
passion so thank you for that intro dude
really my pleasure and one of the things
that you lend Credence to in a way that
I love is the notion of a being an
artist being such a valid form of
expression so growing up in the ' 80s
anyway artists were made fun of right
and that was if you wanted to like paint
the picture of the boyfriend who was not
worthy of the daughter in a movie you
just made him an artist right okay and
that was uh an easy way to dismiss him
to dismiss somebody because if you
couldn't sell it if it couldn't be
turned into a commodity that was that
was that had value in our capitalist
system than it was dismissed oh he's
just a struggling artist something look
down on yeah but when you talk about
artists as being something you know that
where they're really playing a role in
society and they take in the world they
repackage it and make it um I'll say
experienceable I'm not you've never used
that word that's it feels to me yeah
well Marshall mcclan the media theorist
used to say it's always been the artist
who recognizes that the future is the
present and uses his work to prepare the
grounds for it so I mean I've always
felt that artistic interpretation is
precisely that it's interpret ation it's
it's a a focus on subjective experience
and Inter subjectivity to to experience
art is to experience another mind and I
think that the the the fraud of
objectivity in the world you know I mean
don't get me wrong I'm all about
empirical science and objectivity but I
also believe that to dismiss the only
point of view we ever really get to know
which is firsters subjectivity to so
easily dismiss that is a is is a wrong
in in our society and what I love about
art is that it emphasizes the POV it
emphasizes the interpretation what I
like about Cinema even more than
documentaries for example is that Cinema
allows us to enter the mind of somebody
else for real art is the lie that
reveals the truth um and I don't know
that that's just what speaks to me and
so so you know my my videos I may be
talking to the camera they may
technically be vlogging videos but I
Aspire for them to be more cinematic and
film likee than to pretend to be
anything uh objective or empirical which
I love because when you say that there's
no um it's not a a step down in value
right so and what I find so interesting
and and I just had the very good fortune
uh for anybody out there who's a fan of
Jason Z like I am of watching three of
his new videos that haven't been
released yet oh my God they're so good
in one of them there's a moment where
you're cut so that you're facing
yourself yeah and talking about Duality
yeah and what I love is you really do
sit at this intersection which I find
incredibly useful which is you recognize
both the power of The co-authored
Narrative of life right co-authoring the
things you believe about yourself you've
talked very profoundly about the
malleability of the past through
memories and how we can all um change
those but also you're incredibly
respected in the scientific community
and I know that you get Outreach from a
lot of very high level thinkers you were
on Star Talk
and so people see that you can you can
help people experience both right you
can help people experience those moments
that can only be in fact I wore this
shirt which is Carl Sean in your honor
oh cool millions and billions yes
because you like have quoted him and
just I don't know you seeing your
reverence for him in his work is is
really fascinating to me but so you get
somebody like this who's driven by data
by science but he so saw the beauty in
it that I think your word where when you
hear Carl Sean talking rap sodic about
the universe it sounds like he's coming
yeah you know and so you get that like
he's so enraptured with that moment so
that Duality that you represent you know
and and it's it's interesting to me and
the reason it's interesting to me so I'm
the guy that's trying to show people how
they don't have to choose between
executing a business living at the
highest levels being the best in their
field whatever I mean you can want to be
the best parent the fastest runner of
all time
astronaut or business leader that to me
is irrelevant but you truly you're
willing to say that I want to be the
greatest of all time at that and you
know being able to to show people that
I'm not choosing between being an artist
being in love with ideas in fact that
people always give me credit for being
well researched or whatever it's because
I love the ideas right right I'm chasing
my Bliss I'm following something that I
find innately interesting and what I
want people what I really hope they take
away from you is is that that Duality
that intersection of this this is a true
futurist who understands the technology
can talk as powerfully about just sort
of hard science and exponential curves
and where it's all going as he can and
I'm sure we will today about psilocybin
about mystical experience about the the
um ephemeral things that make this life
worth living yeah well I think that you
know it's interesting you mentioned Carl
Sean I I I do love him and I and I have
said that to see him talk or to to hear
his words when he you know is narrating
the pale blue dot I mean that the sense
of awe and the sense of reverence is
clear and and the reason I said it
sounds like he's having a cognitive
orgasm is is very real and and that's a
feeling I think that I chase as a an
existentialist you know this this acute
and agonizing self-awareness about The
Human Condition You know the the the
paralyzing fear the the the paralyzing
in congruity of of mortal creatures who
dream of immortality like it's just you
know to to have emerged from nothing to
have a name consciousness of self deep
inner feeling an excruciating inner
yearning and desire for self- expression
and yet with all this yet to die so we
are simultaneously infinite and finite
tol St used to say man cannot live if he
can't find a way to bridge the infinite
with the finite so that is The Human
Condition and so I think that one of the
ways that we do that is by broadening
our understanding of what is you know
peering beyond the possibles maybe
there's something Beyond this Mortal
coil and Carl Sean said at best through
that inquiry we actually get off he said
understanding is a kind of ecstasy so
even when he's talking about science and
objective empirical measurement of the
world and the scientific process and the
importance of not falling into Dogma
even he's saying that when you
experience Revelation when a subjective
mind experiences what seems like an
objective truth that becomes an ecstatic
experience to that subjective mind so
there is pleasure in understanding and
so I don't think we should hide that or
dis dilute that fact you know when
scientists are really dry when conveying
something amazing I think they lose half
Their audience you know what I mean yes
um you've seen contact right I love that
movie thank you for bringing it up now
you know when Ellie says she's going
through Wormhole and she says they
should have sent a poet yes my favorite
the line should be they should have sent
Jason
Silva and I mean that so when I think
about what you were saying
about the the academics they lose their
audience and what I love about the um
Neil degrass Tyson story is he meets
Carl Sean Carl Sean changed his life by
showing him kindness and really sitting
and listening to him and and helps him
tap into the Rapture that is um that
field of study and when when I hear an
idea and then I hear that same idea
interpreted through you I can feel that
idea and there's so much power and the
ability to to be able to communicate
feeling yeah and one thing I want to do
I want to put you in context for people
because they're seeing you now right
they're seeing you in
2017 and um you make sense in 2017 but
you don't make sense when you first
started doing shots of a however many
years ago and vlogging wasn't the thing
and people weren't doing micro
documentary
no one was thinking of you know
extemporaneously I mean you're you're
essentially like an improv rapper that
takes these really complicated idea
synthesizes them into this flow flow on
both levels the um Steven Cotler Jamie
wheel idea of flow flow genome chick set
Mi high but also the notion of flow as
in my flow when I'm rapping yeah which
is [ __ ] unbelievable and you go on
these you know sort of lyrical Journeys
through this idea smashing these things
together I was writing the intro for you
that notion of Smashing particles
together ideas together in this way that
you're able to synthesize those things
is so incredible and and the reason I'm
really belaboring this point is I want
people to understand all around them
right now are these unbelievable ideas
that they're not seeing because they're
not speaking in the language of emotion
they're not they're not tapping into to
actually feeling something about it and
going back to like I want them to see
you as the alien that they can all be
right because you actually dared to be
you when it was super [ __ ] weird and
I'm sure people must have been like what
is this guy doing like talking to camera
like going cuz there are times I see
people in the background so I know like
you're not like in some super isolated
thing you're like being a crazy man on
the edge of some Sea Cliff somewhere
sure and the camera gave me the
psychological permission slip to do that
right so if I was doing that same thing
ranting and raving to myself without
somebody filming me then there'd be no
difference between me and the crazy man
right um so it's always been about
finding ways to legitimize these
meanderings and diving into free
association which is what these riffs
are in my videos it's it's it's it's
stream of Consciousness in a very real
sense um I try to put myself in an
altered state before I do it um and you
talk about flow you know whether you're
you know a freestyle rapper in flow or a
jazz musician or an elite athlete flow
is characterized by getting outside
yourself and by outside I mean beyond
the monkey mind beyond the inner chatter
beyond the inner critic and the
questioning mind this excessive
rumination and self-consciousness that
keeps you deliberating whether you
should ever get out and do something you
know just overthinking and too much
scenario planning too much neocortical
Hardware as Jamie wheel calls it culde
sax and error messages running on repeat
in your brain and holding you back I
mean we've all suffered from anxiety and
self-consciousness and even depression
all stem from excessive rumination
but when you finally catch that wave and
you're the surfer there's no time to
think anymore you just start being the
doer and the Seer merge the other thing
that happens when you're in flow is your
sense of time disappears so there's
selflessness there's timelessness
there's a sense of effortlessness right
and flow and there's a sense of
information richness the kind of
associations you're able to make right
creativity is just connecting things
increases and for somebody like me whose
disposition is timid and who would
clearly identify uh in my my childhood
as somebody who is really self-conscious
like just thinks too much right um
sometimes in a way that was not uh
useful to me socially and or creatively
I was a stiff I was uptight I was the
guy who never danced at parties right so
everybody's having ecstatic moment of no
mind on the dance floor and I'm just
thinking I'm going to do that look silly
worried about what other people think
and so on and so forth and you know
sometimes it takes finding the right
tool or instrument or medium that you
fall in love with so much that is
stronger than your self-consciousness
and your resistance so that you can
finally break through and I think for me
just the emotional experience of movie
watching the capacity of sitting in the
dark and being so deeply affected by a
piece of work made me want to make
Cinema make media as a control freak
with a God complex which all filmmakers
are we want to not just control how we
feel we want to control how we make you
feel David lensen in his book on drugs
calls it the desire for stewardship of
internal life so it's a great line
stewardship of internal life means you
want to essentially pilot the experience
that you're having in the theater of
your mind's eye right you want to be the
director in the editing room cutting the
scene adding the music adjusting the
lighting and creating the experience
that you're having as a viewer so you're
simultaneously creating and perceiving
your world at once like you're in the
movie Inception real- time authoring of
your own subjective Dreamscape in real
time I mean that's where it comes from
so it's like it's like I love losing
myself in flow but I'm a total control
freak who wants to control the way in
which he loses himself and wants to make
sure he captures the experience of
losing himself so that he can watch it
later as a reminder that it is possible
all of it comes again from a desire to
overcome my own limitations but also
because the alternative right to quote
David Foster Wallace this is one of my
favorite quotes of all time the
alternative to that is unconsciousness
the default setting the rat race the
constant gnawing sense of having had and
lost some infinite thing anybody who's
ever been genuinely inspired anybody
who's ever experienced going going down
the Wormhole like jod Foster in contact
and said oh my God they should have sent
a poet is privy to this sensation of
connecting with something larger than
yourself you step aside and you become
more than what you were and so who
wouldn't want to return to that but that
that is fleeting that is temporary that
is
ephemeral that is rare and often
halfhazard and so I don't accept these
terms I didn't sign up for this how do I
stabilize ecas is how do I stabilize and
eternalize inspiration you know last
night I sat on my laptop and looked up
some of my favorite movie scenes on
YouTube and watch them right after the
other to get my brain into an aroused
state of suggestibility and emotion to
reconnect with feeling alive because
again the default setting is not that
that's not how we're wired uh I want to
come back to the movie thing cuz I had a
as one of your um viewers I had a really
interesting experience with what you put
out we'll talk about that in a second
but um I really hope people are hearing
what you're saying
because I owe you an apology the first
time I encountered you on the internet I
was I was so blown away the only thing I
could think is that you had a magical
gift and I wasn't thinking hard work I
wasn't thinking practice I was just so
astonished and jealous of your ability
to do that that some part of my brain
was like he must be born with that cuz
cuz the ASM between where I was and
where you were was just it seemed too
inhuman to ever cross and now I know
better and I know that it's something
that you've cultivated and what I really
want to make sure people hear is that
this is you overcoming um introversion
it's you overcoming uh excessive selft
talk in your own mind that would
otherwise paralyze you because you know
the promise that I make to people is if
you watch the show you're going to be
better and perform better than if you
hadn't watched the show right and so if
they can see you in that context okay
this is a guy a result of somewhere I
could go and where I could get um then
that you know hopefully really sets them
free because I it it is astonishing like
how you've been able to leverage flow
triggers an understanding of the brain a
deep understanding of the brain um
science technology pharmacology all of
it that you've done to to really take
yourself somewhere new yeah well I mean
and and even even as I've had success
right like I've had a lot of moments
where I created a video that was beyond
anything I thought I could do and it
sent my mind spiraling to this really
happy place because now that this video
exists in the world the rest of my life
will just springboard from that now that
I've made this the rest is inevitably
good um but you would think that that
high would just stay and it hasn't you
know I've struggled with um mostly
anxiety from the fact that no matter how
greatly I'm able to channel my
creativity to create something in the
world um that something is still a
temporary thing you know I make a video
I can only watch it so many times before
I'm sick of it and and there's a desire
for that next thing but what what what
will sometimes haunt my dreams still is
unarticulated fear just like a general
feeling of morose anxiety
of just what if it all ends what does it
all mean in the end like I I went to see
the movie La La Land and I loved every
second of it um but this goes back to my
view of The Human Condition I was
simultaneously mourning the film as it
ended like it's it's to to to fully and
vividly live in the present is also to
be acquainted with the fact that it's
expiring as we live through it and if we
were infinite if if we knew we had
forever then it wouldn't matter because
they'd be like well I'll watch this
again tomorrow but to know right that
time is running out whether we live 90
years or 105 every day is a day you'll
never get back that is still a problem
for me um that's how intensely I love
The Human Experience you know and that's
how that you you said in Spanish
obviously I don't know in Spanish but it
translated the day as escaping
and that is exactly how I feel like the
days I can tell we relate on that
together because that's the fire in our
belly like we wake up agitated and some
would say right many psychologists would
say like well you owe your success and
your work to that ank for sure make
friends with it because without it you
wouldn't have achieved what you have
achieved you know Jamie wheel told me
he's like you love your Neurosis you
love your pain and your angst because it
informs your work and in a way in a way
it's true I mean it's it's it's why I've
never really taken an anti-depressant
you know because when you read about
what most people who experience the
polarity the intense polarity that we do
the highs and the lows is like you know
you can get on a pill that will just
numb you out that will just make
everything
like but when I feel it's the beginning
of like I'm not happy with this you know
yeah I'd rather be crying or joyously
celebrating not a state you every day
you know yeah no I totally get that
you've talked about with love you know
that um that in many ways it's it's the
agony of knowing that it's temporary and
that they're so it's either a delicate
moment with that person just knowing
that they're delicate creature and that
nothing lasts forever yeah yeah I mean
Perhaps it is that fleetingness that
impregnates such moments with such
beauty you said that we're insatiable
wanting machines and that sort of sits
at the heart of the human
that as soon as I heard that I was like
that defines me I am an insatiable
wanting machine right and and this is
one of the reasons that I rail against
people chasing money so hard like you'll
never have enough okay so don't don't
even bother right like the same thing
that you feel about however much you're
making now you're going to feel whether
you've got 10 50 $100 million in the
bank it it literally won't matter so
because we're insatiable wanting
machines how why are we aable W machines
is it service is it a hindrance um it's
a I mean it's a side effect of our
wiring right so we are wired to seek out
novelty we get a dopamine floods our
system whenever we're exposed to the new
originally that is what made us
explorers that is what made us spread
our seed or semen widely it was you know
wired to procreate wi you know wired for
novelty wired for that new mate um we
also have hedonic adaptation hedonic
adaptation means that our hedonic set
point what gives us pleasure today will
not give us pleasure tomorrow through
repeated exposure because again it
becomes familiar once it's familiar it
can be dismissed the brain is on to
bigger and better things I mean and it's
responsible for our greatest
achievements as a species right going to
the Moon building the internet I mean we
push the boundaries of novelty we are
novelty creating engine We're The
Cutting Edge Of Evolution Evolution
creates novelty right life moves towards
greater novelty and complexity that's
what life is it's it's it's the
anti-entropic force in the universe is
life the problem is that if we're not
constantly creating we're restless and
depressed and also that we don't get to
enjoy that which we create much either
so the ride is is characterized by this
drive by this itch with not enough time
in a state of appreciation I it's
interesting cuz I I feel about it the
way that you feel about your neosis
which is that for all its problems
there's actually something amazing that
it gives me and you know I'll put it in
sort of more typical terms and I'll call
it hunger right yeah I'm [ __ ] hungry
yeah like I wake up every day and I want
to do something and I want to do
something big and I think that there's
certain things in our culture that we've
decided it's okay to say you want to do
on a grand scale um but then there's
other things that we say that it's not
okay to admit that but I think the
reality is everyone can look inside
themselves they know what they really
want like they might be embarrassed to
admit it they might think it makes them
a loser um but they know yeah they never
own it and because they don't own it
they can't explore it because they can't
explore it they're never able to find
out if there actually is a path to doing
something you know you and I were
talking before the camera started
rolling and and I was saying impact
theory is me like if anybody wanted to
know and I used to get asked this all
the time when I was at Quest what would
you do if you weren't at Quest like if
money were No Object what would you do
and I can actually say I've answered
that question right and the answer is
impact Theory and what is impact Theory
impact theory is um me answering the no
[ __ ] question of what does it take
to influence culture right like at the
deepest level um and and you know why I
want to do it I want to pull people out
of the Matrix and why do I want to pull
people out of the Matrix because for me
there's a neurochemical addiction to the
moment of Awakening MH I love seeing in
somebody else where they finally get it
that you know we were talking about V
for Vendetta that they realized the
prison is fake yeah and this whole time
they've been trapped yeah and it's it's
all of their own making yeah and that to
me is like the [ __ ] juice I'm just
wired to really enjoy that moment and
then if you want to supercharge it 10x
at a thousandfold whatever let me
realize I was a part of it yeah that I
helped in some way well that's that BEC
your symbolic immortality by the way
which is you know like Ernest Becker
says there's three ways we respond to
the terror of meaninglessness in the
face of mortality the first one is the
religious impulse we aled about it last
time the second one is the Romantic
impulse where you basically turn your
girlfriend or boyfriend into God and by
purging or rubbing up against the
infinite they make you infinite um but
then he ultimately says that to live a
heroic life he talks about heroism
Cosmic heroism is to want to create
something that is beyond you um and
that's what you're doing with impact
Theory which I think is a beautiful
thing um but now you want to go really
deep for a second sure I know it's all a
[ __ ] lie that is being told to me by
my genetic to make sure that I keep
moving and pushing forward and trying to
help the group so that the group
survives right somewhat irrelevant if I
survive but even in that like I just
want like myself to know I'm very aware
that even that is sort of a manipulation
that you know the brain plays on you
that I should be incentivized to do
something oh but it's positive Jason
therefore it's okay it's it's the same
mechanisms that work right so but being
aware of it I think puts you in the
driver's seat which I find pretty
interesting well yeah absolutely I mean
because because you've also decided
you know Consciousness is mediated by
chemistry and you have figured out the
knobs and levers approach what do I need
to do in my life to make my subjective
experience really enthralling because
nature rewards me for doing what I meant
to do in this world if Destiny is real
Destiny is just you being wired to do
what you're meant to do chemically
biologically genetically and finding a
way to marry that to your subjective
experience and then you know follow your
bliss Andor open for you where wi doors
you know maybe Joseph Campbell was
hinting at that the where nature marries
subjective experience where genetic
predisposition and determinism marries
the feeling of volition and agency and
Free Will that a creative mind living
its Bliss feels you know maybe that's
where they that's I think you really
under something there so one of the
opening lines of the power of myth is at
least the interview Series where Bill
Moyers asks him um you know what is it
uh about this that makes you think that
everybody should pay attention to it
meaning mythology and he said I don't
think everybody should pay attention to
it just because somebody says it's
important he said I think if properly
introduced to this subject that it will
catch you and he said you should only do
what catches you and you know putting it
in in the language that we were just
talking and it's you know when you align
that thing that you're wired to do
whatever that chemical result and then
you follow it right you know it's caught
you it's not you're not doing it out of
obligation and that's something so many
people are driven by obligation right I
should do this I should do that instead
of saying what what catches me like what
pulls me through yeah well it it it you
know it's it's interesting because any
creative person at some point or another
has trusted the process has figured out
like how certain environments can
catalyze creativity has figured out what
their triggers for flow are whatever uh
woo woo Things fall into place that lead
to the magic of creativity um you know I
still believe in science so so I don't
want to I don't want to surrender to
magical thinking but at the end of the
day like creativity is a form of magic
but maybe there can be an explanation
but for somebody who has an aversion to
the concept of Faith or believing in in
Magic really um I still live as if I
believe in magic and partake in the
creative process and so I'm aware of the
contradictions but one of the Hallmarks
of of all mystical creative epiphanies
is a sense of paradoxicality so that you
can hold multiple truths in in mind at
once seemingly contradictory ideas are
reconciled um in that state of no mind
and ecstasy interesting that you say
that so I used to talk a lot about this
I don't know why it hasn't been on my
mind lately but I really believe that
one of the abilities you must cultivate
if you want to be successful is the
ability to hold two competing ideas in
your head at the same time there you go
like you really and you really have to
know when so okay here I have these two
ideas they compete with each other and I
need to know when to look at this one
and really pay attention to it let my
behavior be driven by this and when to
look at this completely contradictory
thing right and know when to lean on
this one yeah it's [ __ ] fascinating
leverage that though that seems to serve
us right I no question and maybe that
points to the the sort of there is no
objective reality like it's so hard to
make things absolute and I think that it
so I have a belief that human potential
is nearly Limitless now why do I throw
in nearly Limitless I do it partly to
because I'm holding competing ideas in
my head on the one hand I believe human
potential is completely Limitless and
then on the other hand I know if I step
off the roof I'm going to fall and break
something right right so it's like and
how you reconcile those two things it's
it it like for me for me that causes
tremendous uh anxiety really well
because I figure as long as we're young
and healthy and we take care of our
physical Hardware we get enough sleep we
exercise we eat well we can more or less
take
our our physi our physiology for granted
um and you know I've thankfully I'm very
healthy but I've experienced Health
scares in my life mostly self-created
you know some something happened and
then I assumed it was the worst but I
can tell you that in the midst of a
panic attack of a true ontological
Terror it doesn't doesn't matter if you
think you're dying or if you think
you're going crazy it's the same thing
right you're losing your grip you're
losing your grip even on your own
stabilized identity and I'm working on
some videos on the subject because I
think I think mental health you know
depression and anxiety in this country
are chronic in the world it's one of the
most diagnosed illnesses now in the
world like more than physical illnesses
like okay like we have science we have
vaccines people living longer healthier
but they're [ __ ] depressed and
anxious you know and and we have not
good systems I think to fill our holes
yeah it's so interesting so one of the
driving forces behind founding the
company was so cuz people were like wait
why are you changing you know your
mission from Quest like this whole new
thing and to me it's not it's not a
different Mission so at Quest what we
were trying to do is Wellness right so
now you can get hyperfocused and say
what's the tactic we're using and the
tactic there was um to end metabolic
disease but at the end of the at the end
of the day for me and I'm speaking for
myself not for my partners we were you
know sort of focused on very different
things but for me it was there were
people in my life that I loved and they
were very unhappy profoundly unhappy and
playing the no [ __ ] what would it
take game I knew the answer was you know
my sister was clinically depressed to
help her she had to get in better shape
because she you know was in this vicious
cycle of food she had a negative self
body image the only thing that gave her
Comfort was food and that gave her a
more negative body image and made her
feel like she had no will power and all
that and so she just super destructive
so by giving her food that she could
choose based on taste and happened to be
good for her it got her going in the
opposite direction she started feel
better look better she was making one
simple Choice Eat This Bar instead of a
you know bag of M&M's or whatever and so
it got her going helped build confidence
all that um it was really really
incredible but it was it was about
Wellness it was about wanting to see my
sister happy right so the the other side
of the coin was always mental happiness
and I believe that we're living through
two pandemics right now pandemic one is
the Pand of the body it's very easy to
see people are morbidly obese super
visible when somebody dies of diabetes
it's crazy they're literally burning
alive from the inside out it starts at
the extremities they start you know
cutting off toes and foot leg and you
know and then you're gone and so it's so
visible whereas mental illness on the
other hand the pandemic of the mind it's
invisible agreed I mean there's a Sam
Harris who is also brilliant and I've
consulted with on this topic says why
are we so concerned with the story look
the brain is wired to tell stories so
when you're physically uncomfortable it
will tell a story it will that that
discomfort will inform the story and
give it a negative tinge you know
sometimes I feel anxious and what I
realize is I just have to pee and I was
like creating this whole story um and
one of the things he said is that you
think of anxiety just as a peculiar
sensation like when you have an itch
when you have an itch you you know you
scratch it if you can and if you can't
you just like Let The Sensation pass and
he says try to do the same thing when
you feel anxious you know mindfulness
meditators talk about that okay just let
it come in don't resist it okay just
feel it breathe through it and if you
don't allow it to like hijack you it
will just pass like just another
sensation dude that's really interesting
so I'll give you one of my anxiety
triggers being cold so anybody that
knows me knows I'm like freaky about
being cold I do not like to be cold the
reason I don't like to be cold is the
physiological response to cold is
exactly the same that I get anyway when
I'm anxious I feel like um slightly
shivery like so if I'm super warm but
anxious I'll feel that same sense of
being shivery so getting cold makes me
feel like I'm really anxious about
something so I'm like the [ __ ] but that
analogy is very helpful I will begin
employing it immediately yeah yeah I
mean it seems to work for me I mean at
least definitely for for exercise you've
been involved with the X prise I've been
heavily involved in the X prize uh
consider myself sort of a junior
futurist if you will
am am very interested to ask you a
question which in fact I'll ask now then
I'm going to give you a second to think
about okay so because this is you're
going to resist answering this but I
really want you to take a shot okay um
peer inside the
singularity and like what's in there
we'll both do it I won't leave you
hanging they're going to be absurd the
whole point of a singularity is that you
can't see beyond it yeah so why is he
asking us to to do that but so I I think
and I've thought about this a lot say
you don't even need a second let's go
I think that to to quantify or first
tell people what the singularity is all
right so the singularity uh for those
who don't know in in Silicon Valley
vernacular is kind of like the Rapture
of of the Nerds but um it's it's
engineered Nirvana it's Heaven it's it's
human beings transcending mortality
biology even our cognition as it exists
today and phase change so it's a
metaphor borrowed from physics to
describe what happens when you go
through a black hole so the the in the
upcoming singularity the one in which
humans transcend biology aside from
giving us indefinite lifespans
potentially migrating Beyond biology or
radically extending our biological
Hardware first of all we'll get rid of
the concept of death and might
eventually rid us of the concept of time
so I liken it to the end of Vanilla Sky
where they sell Tom Cruz character the
idea of the life extension lucid dream
you'll live it in the Perpetual present
um where everything just improves like
like a reality rendered at the speed of
thought and so what that looks like will
be shaped by whatever that particular
mind dreams up and so I know that for me
it's probably going to look a lot like a
like a collage of all my favorite movies
you know like it'll be an ageless
present in which my favorite scenes from
my favorite movies unfold around me me
forever that would be my Singularity all
right I so B want to keep going down
that rabbit hole but I'll realist back
in here for a second and say as somebody
who watches your Facebook it was really
really fascinating what you were doing
showing clips from movies that really
moved you like you want to talk about
inviting someone inside your mind it was
it was because each moment was emotional
I was feeling what you were feeling and
so to see like what you saw as beautiful
or um poignant it was so cool it was
like the ultimate um card to send to
somebody in fact makes me want to do
this for my wife just to be like here
like seven moments yeah [ __ ] this is me
[ __ ] dude and that that was exactly how
it felt watching your stuff it was I'm
going to this is going to you're either
going to get it you're be like what so
my wife knows the story I was um on a
business trip and we were out there was
four of us and because I'm so in my
relationship with my wife like it it was
fun to be around other people who were
like doing the sort of courtship ritual
but to be on the outside of that but so
because they were all doing it it was
like at this heighten State and I had
this sweatshirt on and I needed to take
it off and I turned to the woman next to
me I said this is going to be oddly
intimate but will you please hold the
bottom of my shirt for me so I can take
my top shirt off without it coming off
and so she reached over and did it and I
took my shirt off and she was like that
really was like strangely intimate and I
thought wow we've shared like it's such
a small moment right but it's so real
and like so tangible that it really did
like have this intimacy about it and
some of the clips that you put were
small like that and so they had this
like really real intimacy where I felt
like I [ __ ] just stepped into your
mind a bit it was so [ __ ] interesting
thank you for that I will be doing so
you're so welcome talk to me about where
do you want to see Cinema go it's
interesting I uh in trying to be as as
ambitious creatively but also pragmatic
you know I my as my Clips have resonated
um there's it's created an interest in
in me for other projects and
opportunities and for other people's
agendas so I get invited quite a bit to
come Inspire audiences at like big
corporate Keynotes for like IBM and
Intel and Cisco and that's great um I'm
lucky that I get to do that and share my
mind with these people and talk about
singularity in the future and it's all
great the new show with Origins is great
you know National Geographic major
platform I hope it does extraordinarily
well um I would also like to focus and
put more resources into doing you know
Special Edition video content and what I
mean by that is you know I'm an artist
not an art Factory sometimes having to
constantly be pushing out content
doesn't allow me to labor lovingly on
making a video perfect so I guess guess
it's figuring out a system that um
financially makes sense for me to do
that like you always want to do your
thing and you're not sure you're not
sure if your thing has mass Market
appeal you know and it's like oh like
Facebook is getting more crowded and the
algorithms are like making it harder for
people even your own fans to see your
content you know and so it's just like
you know what does one do and and you
know it's interesting cuz anybody out
there who wants to make content like
watch his content one thing you're going
to see is how much he has sort of three
layers of content so layer one is um
completely unguarded and intimate yeah
and um it's fun to watch you dip in and
out of what people think is Jason Silva
right so it I feel like I'm just one of
your boys and we're hanging we're eating
bitter bollins and you know having a
chat about the view and you know all of
that and then there's the art machine
where you're you know shots of all they
coming out every week whether you want
it to or not and it's beautiful to watch
you get into that state and really
create this stuff and then there's this
new content that you're about to put out
which we just looked at and it's it is
Artful right it's Artful on every level
and to me as as a fellow content creator
like that's the new game right that's
the new paradigm that everybody is
playing is what what are the layers to
your creation because you can't like not
everything that we do can be this right
so that's the fastest way to go broke
but the audience is a certain percentage
of the people out in the world right
they want what we're doing they want
more they want different ways to engage
in it and the fact that you're
delivering on that in all these sort of
inception like layers to your
personality is is pretty intriguing
thanks bro well we'll have to keep it
going you know yeah no question hope
hopefully I can no you will you will man
look and and that goes back to what I
was saying that I really hope people see
you in the context of somebody who
um gave birth to something before it was
a thing right to to be Jason silv now is
a verb you know it's like other people
trying to do what you do get in your
flow States and create the kind of um
things you're creating it's really
interesting and it's beautiful to watch
you push and going back to we are
insatiable wanting machines I'm glad as
as somebody who loves your content I'm
glad that you're not satisfied all right
one last question sure what's the impact
that you want to have on the
[Applause]
world I mean you know it
certainly is life affirming and
elating when you come across somebody uh
who has resonated with your content um
because what it feels like is the
opposite of fear you feel your power to
do good and that's awesome like feeling
not just not feeling your power right
this is not like I am powerful feeling
your power to do good feels really good
because it's like oh so I guess I can do
something about my uh feeling of
impotence in the face of where the world
is going with politics or in the face of
like whatever it is that that gets you
down but that but that you can do good
so you can respond to that malaise you
know you can respond to the Doom and
Gloom um it's I I mean it's either that
or cow away and die you know I mean um
and so yeah I mean I guess yeah I mean I
think I want something similar to what
um what you probably want as well
positively impact people like to to be
to be net good you know that what that
what we do in the world raises the stage
for for others as well but you know
that's that would be the goal I love
that where can these guys find you
online uh Facebook is great
facebook.com/ Jason L Silva or just look
up my Facebook page which is verified
it's easy to find um Instagram at Jason
L Silva Twitter at Jason Silva I mean
I'm I'm you know I'm I'm on all the
social media platforms a quick Google
search they should be able to find it
but definitely for the videos um
Facebook is where I've seen the most
growth so I appreciate when people come
in there and engage and share that's
good and don't forget the new show which
I'm super hyped about Origins origins
The Journey of human kind is going to
sort of Chronicle the story of humanity
through a modern lens so we we start
with today and then we Trace back the
origins of things like language fire
Transportation war and we Trace these
things to their Origins to the to the
moments uh in which Humanity was
witnessing the next big thing that
transformed uh humans into who we became
it's going to be really good and uh yeah
National Geographic Channel nice I'm
super excited man thank you so much for
coming on the show thanks for having me
what a pleasure thank you man all right
guys I hope that you were paying
attention to the links he was giving you
to follow him socially because I'm
telling you this guy is unbelievable the
way that he's able to synthesize ideas
and DJ them it's one of the most
accurate things you're ever going to be
uh you're ever going to hear people say
about him is he is a DJ of ideas and I
think that is so true and the way that
he's able to combine novel ideas to
literally
collapse your reality tunnel as he says
and get you decentered and seeing the
world in a totally new way it is
absolutely astonishing and from the
smallest moments that he's able to
capture and and stretch out and really
make you feel something to the Grand
moments the way that he talks about the
cosmos and can really invite you into
the most complicated and seemingly
unreachable ideas that we have at the
deepest levels of Neuroscience cosmology
all of it but he makes it accessible and
he does it by making it emotional he's
going to make it tangible he's going to
make you feel something he is the great
translator and he is able to take the
most audacious ideas and make you feel
like you can make them your own and go
out and do something with them he is an
artist he is a poet and he is a
scientist even though he would never use
that word but it is beautiful the
dichotomy that he represents and the way
that he's able to bring it all together
there is in my opinion no human being
that is anything like Jason Silva so go
check them out Jason thank you so much
man thank you so much bro wow what a
what a what an honor thank you abely
guys please give it up for Jason
Silva that was awesome dude hey
everybody thanks so much for joining us
for another episode of impact theory if
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[Music]