
Jason Silva
Host of National Geographic's "Brain Games" & "Origins," & Creator of Shots of Awe
Jason Silva is the Emmy-nominated host of National Geographic Channel’s #1 rated and Emmy-nominated series, Brain Games, seen in over 100 countries. He will next be seen as the host of the eight-part National Geographic series, Origins: The Journey of Humankind, premiering March 2017. “A Timothy Leary of the Viral Video Age” was how The…
Categories :
Full Bio
Jason Silva is the Emmy-nominated host of National Geographic Channel’s #1 rated and Emmy-nominated series, Brain Games, seen in over 100 countries. He will next be seen as the host of the eight-part National Geographic series, Origins: The Journey of Humankind, premiering March 2017.
“A Timothy Leary of the Viral Video Age” was how The Atlantic described television personality, filmmaker and philosopher Silva, who has also been described as “part Timothy Leary, part Ray Kurzweil, and part Neo from ‘The Matrix.’”
A self-professed wonderjunkie, Silva is the creator of the web series “Shots of Awe,” micro-documentaries exploring creativity, innovation, technology, futurism, metaphysics, existentialism and the human condition. In short: Philosophy, Science and Art for the YouTube generation. The videos, which “play like movie trailers for ideas,” according to The Atlantic, have spread like wildfire across the internet and have been viewed more than 13 million times. Influencers such as Ron Howard, Richard Branson, Leo Dicaprio, Tribeca Films Co-founder Jane Rosenthal, actor Mark Ruffalo, NASA, and many others have tweeted Jason’s videos.
Jason also created the web series “Future of Us” for AOL, exploring exponential technology and the future of humanity.
The Imaginary Foundation wrote of Silva, “like some kind of Ontological DJ, he recompiles the source code of western philosophy by mixing and mashing it up into a form of recombinant creativity, which elevates understanding from the dry and prosaic, to a sensual cognitive romance.”
Others have described Silva as “a modern performance philosopher, a Digital DJ, a re-vitalizer and remixer of optimism, and above all, a curator: of ideas, of inspiration, and of awe…like a trumpet player or modern-day digital Mingus, he jams, riffs and rhapsodizes through a tumbling thicket of ideas with such a sharp and vital alacrity that it can take the breath away.”
An active and prolific global speaker, Jason has spoken at TEDGlobal, Google’s Zeitgeist Conference, keynoted multiple events for Microsoft, IBM, Adobe, Oracle, Electronic Arts, Honeywell, PEPSICO, Intel, Dolby and many more, all over the world.
He was also keynoted at the Tribeca Film Festival, The Sydney Opera house, The Economist Ideas Festival, The DLD Conference, The Singularity Summit, the PSFK Conference, Mexico’s Ciudad De Las Ideas, Seattle’s Interactive Conference, Chicago Ideas Week, the main stage at SXSW Interactive and the MainStage at CANNES LIONS festival of Creativity.
From 2005 to 2011, Venezuela-born Silva was a presenter on Current TV, the Emmy-winning, independent cable network started by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, where he hosted, wrote and produced more than 100 hours of original content. He left the network to become, according to The Atlantic, “a part-time filmmaker and full-time walking, talking TEDTalk.”
Testimonials
Ernie was perfect for our Elders Conference at Little River Casino Resort in Manistee, Michigan. We will definitely be using PDA again!

LITTLE RIVER BAND OF OTTAWA INDIANS
Our speaker was great and the crowd enjoyed her! She was very engaging. Thank you again PDA for the great list of suggestions!

MEDTRONIC
Everything went great! and our speaker was wonderful! Thank you so much for all your help PDA! Looking forward to the next one.

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI – KANSAS CITY
I hope that this message finds you well. We had a phenomenal time with Atsuko this past Thursday. We wanted to just let you know how amazing she was. All those that were in attendance thoroughly enjoyed her and had nothing but amazing things to say about her. Thank you for working with us to make sure this happened!

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
We had a fantastic day with Inge! She was very engaging with all those that attended. Her personal stories about the holocaust were very special and we were moved that she was willing to share them with everyone. Thank you again, PDA for all your hard work and dedication to make this program such a success!

SALT LAKE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Dear PDA Group, Thank you so much for your hard work in scheduling our speaker! From the moment we reached out to you the first time, you worked with us on all details and logistics and kept us up-to-date on the progress. Thank you for all your hard work on making our event such a success! We couldn't have done it without you and your team!

SAP COMPANY
Thank you again, Dr. Kimbrough, for a great presentation, our attendees are still talking about it!

CAMPUS LABS
Dr. Henry Lee's presentation was entertaining, insightful and wise. I, and everyone at Pfizer, especially appreciate the remarks you directed about following your passion and preparing yourself to excel. Thank you, everyone, at PDA for helping to make this happen!

PFIZER
The event was successful! I received many messages expressing how awesome, outstanding and inspiring Ms. Webb-Christburg's speech was."

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. MEMORIAL BREAKFAST, BOSTON, MLK SPEAKER
Everything went well. Atsuko was very easy to work with and the students enjoyed her performance! Thank you again for your recommendation and I hope to work with you again in the future!

CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
Dr. Novello left this morning after a very successful event on our campus! Thank you PDA Group for your help from the first phone to the last you were with us every step of the way.

GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY
Jordan Carlos was very very entertaining! A majority of students who answered the event survey indicated they really enjoyed Jordan and definitely will bring him back!

WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY
On behalf of myself and my organization Entertainment Unlimited the Campus Programming Board of Ferris State University, we thank you PDA and Dan for a successful event!! Dan was magnificent! Students really enjoyed the presentation. I know I did. Can't wait to bring in more programs with PDA Group.

FERRIS STATE UNIVERSITY
It was a great pleasure to work with PDA Group! The communication was always prompt, friendly and helpful. We loved the speakers and events we booked through Mr. Peter Walker (PDA Group).

WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
Thank you, Peter, for all your help, you'll be happy to know that the event went incredibly well! Aneesa Ferreira was by far one of the best speakers we've ever had!

FURMAN UNIVERSITY
Topics
Creativity
People say ‘creativity is just putting things together” and this is exactly what Jason addresses when explaining creativity. His talks focus on “expanding our associative net” and teaching ourselves to look for patterns across seemingly disparate areas. He talks about the importance of removing ourselves from habituated mental patterns and pulling ourselves drastically out of context in order to “gawk in amazement at the ubiquitous everyday wonder’s we’re culturally conditioned to ignore” and have creative insights.
Technology and Innovation
The rapid, exponential growth rate of technological progress is transforming our world, disrupting established industries and leading us towards a radical transformation in many key areas, including the very fabric of what it means to be human. There are overlapping revolutions occurring in biotechnology, synthetic biology and genomics, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence, all of which game-changers. Jason’s unique approach towards placing these transformations in context and “looking at the big picture” has made him a sought after speaker who brings an enthralling vision of what’s next. Jason has presented his work on creativity, technology and innovation at keynotes for IBM, Intel, Microsoft, GOOGLE, Adobe, Electronic Arts, Cannes Lions, Pepsico, Lockheed Martin, Booz Allen Hamilton, The Economist, and many more.
Awe, Wonderment and the Currency of Curiosity and Inspiration
People are always looking for inspiration and awe, but only recently did a study from Stanford confirm that transcendent awe has numerous health benefits. But how do we put ourselves into these states of wonder and awe? Jason’s highly viral series of short films, Shots of Awe, have literally ignited a conversation about the role of content and media in creating “awe-inspiring” experiences.
His videos and talks look at AWE as a pivotal ingredient in making ideas resonate and disseminate. As a self-professed “epiphany addict and wonderjunkie,” Jason has been compared to Carl Sagan for his unique ability to convey a sense of awe with this talks and work.
Innovation and Thinking Differently
Innovation is at the intersection of seemingly unrelated ideas, when unexpected connections are perceived for the first time. Innovation is what happens when a sufficiently different point of view of things changes our perception of the problem or challenge at hand. This provides a new understanding, a new map from which to implement action. But how do we catalyze innovative thinking? How do we sufficiently “get out of our own way” in order to see things from a radically different perspective?
Science, Technology and the Human Condition
Media technologies are one way. Jason’s web series ‘Shots of Awe’ is an experiment in using short from documentaries to heighten our mood and lift our spirits through the capture and management of attention, challenging our ways of thinking through a series of “trailers for the mind”, a kind of media ‘Shock and Awe’ that helps dissolve boundaries of thought and transcend habituated modes of being.
Jason’s speeches are like a ‘concert for ideas’, they pull people out of context, and challenge assumptions. His talks provide a much needed cognitive shift. He highlights the relationship between ‘out of the box thinking’ and innovation–and highlights the role of “inspiration” in de-conditioning our thinking in order to arrive at these innovative, insightful moments.
Videos
Jason Silva Speaker - PDA Speakers
Books
News
Testimonials
GET IDEAS

1 HOUR OR LESS