It’s been a long time since I heard someone speak so passionately and convincingly. Revolving around philosophy and aimed at inspiring, this man may really be on to something.
Meet Jason Silva, a 30 year old Venezuelan-American philosophy performer (yes, Performance Philosophy is real now) who is on a mission to use film to “capture and immortalise moments of inspiration that are so fleeting and lonely”. The result of his work is a series of bite-sized inspirational shorts that are bound to leave you in awe.
One of my favourite shorts made by Jason is this one on our greatest existential bummer:
Jason’s work is influenced by great writers like Ernest Becker and other philosophers and he frequently quotes them in his videos, adding his own thoughts often sporadically with so much emotion that it easily lifts the viewer into a heightened state of mind. This elevated cognitive state is what he is trying to achieve, according to the talk he gave at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas held in Sydney in 2012.
If you liked the short he made on our Existential Bummer, you will enjoy hearing his brain-gasm in full glory at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas.
We are the Gods Now talk at The Festival of Dangerous Ideas:
Perhaps the most important takeaway from this man’s (still unfolding) story is to stay awesome – to keep our eyes open to the amazing world around us and be awed by it. A keen eye and a little exuberance about the world in this digital age will go a long way in helping us with our existential bummer.
Read also: Time to rethink your digital connections
