Tribeca Film Festival: Jason Silva Talks Techno-Optimism

Original release date was May 28, 2014 and original writeup is below.

"We each can become god in our own custom made universe," explains Jason Silva, host of the National Geographic Channel's Brain Games. Silva was at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival promoting his web series Shots of Awe. Silva says the popularity of wearable devices will change the future of how we consume media.

Reason TV's Zach Weissmueller caught up with Silva to discuss techno-optimism, NSA spying, and the future of virtual reality. 

About 7 minutes.

Produced by William Neff and Zach Weissmuller. Shot by Jim Epstein.

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Comments

[Corning]

OT:

OMG we are all idiots!!

Jon Snow has no dad. He is a virgin birth of a Zoroastrian savior.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saoshyant

"Zoroastrian tradition envisions three future saviours, one for the end of each 1,000-year period that comprise the last 3,000 years of the world. All three will be born of maidens"

[Virginian]

Can't wait for tomorrow night. It's going to be amazing. Off the chain. Insane.

[Irish]

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Jesus. That guy is intolerable.

[Max Power]

Is this a serious thing or is this a joke? Who wants to listen to a pipe organ outside of a place where there already is a pipe organ? Is this guy "the bad boy of the pipe organ"? I kinda hope this is real because it's so ridiculous.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I hope it's real too. It makes me feel so much better about myself. I'm so glad I'm not that guy.

[Pope Jimbo]

I don't want to sugarcoat this, but this dude is no Rubber Burner
http://rubberburner.dodonetwork.net/

Or if you want to skip to the purest PUA move ever:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=misZJRVxzUE

[Sevo]

I tried for a while, but the guy seems to be more interested in talking about what he does than doing it.
If he ever does anything, why, I'll be happy to see if it's worth anything.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

He plays a little bit at the end. It's mediocre at best, but he looks like he's orgasming while he plays.

Irish is going to pay for this.

[Sevo]

"He plays a little bit at the end. It's mediocre at best, but he looks like he's orgasming while he plays."

Yeah, that's not surprising. Some people perform and some people act; he seems entire too taken with some 'vision'.

[Irish]

We're doomed.

Queer and Loathing
?@awhooker
Calling trans women "men" is violence. @charlescwcooke @KevinNR

[Irish]

Queer and Loathing ?@awhooker 5h
@CoastState Okay, but what makes chromosomes "male" or "female". They're cissexist framings of things which are not gendered.

CoastState Trillah ?@CoastState 5h
.@awhooker the Y chromosome on a male contains a gene called the SRY. That's the switch that turns on other genes that result in a male.

Queer and Loathing ?@awhooker 5h
@reactionagainst You literally don't know anything about my chromosomes.

Ladies and gentlemen, the pro-science party!

I think this might be one of the fringe nutcase trans people that Ru Paul was talking about.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Don't you oppress me!

[C. Anacreon]

You would think that if a transgender individual really feels they are "trapped in the wrong body" that they would want to find a way (perhaps including surgery) to live as the opposite gender, quietly and happily.

But no, in cases like this there appears to be a desire to be some sort of new organism, that one can trumpet to be superior to all "cis" humans, and yet can loudly complain about being oppressed by them at the same time.

No doubt this is a lot more about "look at me" than it is any true gender issue.

[Corning]

hmm

they would want to find a way (perhaps including surgery) to live as the opposite gender, quietly and happily.

First i am sure there are...if they are quiet and happy how would you ever hear about them?

Also even if you assume there is no "oppression" of the cis (i am not so sure there isn't) there would still be the fact that a person is trapped in the wrong sex.

If i was trapped like that i would be pretty pissed at the universe in general. I don't know if i am a complainer when things don't go my way...but it does not take imagination to think that i might complain loudly about it...or someone who is more vocal about their troubles to be so.

[Paul.]

Leading their lives... of noisy desperation.

[MJGreen]

Does @awhooker think she knows anything about her own chromosomes?

[Suthenboy]

Two things.

1. It disturbs me that many lefties are equating speech that they find offensive with violence, and refer to it as such. This is their justification, a la Miller-Young, for responding to speech they find disagreeable with actual violence.

2. These are emotionally disturbed people. Arguing with them is a waste of time.

[Austrian Anarchy]

I cannot believe you so brazenly assaulted everybody reading this, even the ones who are unaware of the assault.

[mr simple]

Help, help, I'm being repressed!

[Chumby]

I'd bet you typed that on a high capacity, 78 key, detachable assault keyboard.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I have a New Zealand rack of lamb from Costco that I need to cook tonight, and I'm lacking inspiration.
Suggestions welcome.

[Episiarch]

The normal thing is to coat it with a garlic/rosemary/thyme rub before roasting it. You'll see this in a majority of the recipes for it. If you wanted to be bold you could do a garlic/cumin rub, or if you really wanted to be bold, a garlic/cumin/mint rub. All these rubs include salt, pepper, and olive oil.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I know garlic, pepper, and salt are going to be involved, and probably shallots.

I am leaning towards a greek/middle eastern flavor, so maybe some lemon and oregano too....

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

And now you have me thinking about mint.

I'm going to see if I can make some sort of mint chimmichurri sauce. It could be awesome, but it also has the potential to go really wrong.

[Suthenboy]

I have huge amounts of fresh mint. I use it as filler and cover in my flower beds. I have several varieties with subtly different flavors. Come get some.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I have huge amounts of fresh lemon. Maybe we can arrange a trade.

We had 3 heat waves in the last 2 months, so the good ones came really early. Almost like candy.

[Suthenboy]

Sounds like a good deal. We had an unusually cold winter which killed back my lemon and grapefruit trees. I only have about a half gallon of frozen squeeze from last summer.

[Paul.]

Stay away from the cumin.

[Corning]

Shake N Bake lamb chops!!

http://www.kraftbrands.com/shake-n-bake/

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Marge, you only have 2 moves. Shake, and bake!

[Marshall Gill]

"You love Shake and Bake. You used to put it in your coffee."

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Mary is spewing on the CNN cop burning baby story. She's like 27 comments in right now.

Anyone still have her address?

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Under Kizone Kaprow.

[Corning]

Must have been all deleted.

Kizone Kaprow is nowhere to be found.

[DK]

"Sort by Newest" and "Load more comments" about 5 times.

[Ted S.]

When she trolled my blog last weekend, it was under "Anonymous".

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

You have a blog? Tell me more...

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Dude, if shit gets weird here tonight, I'm blaming you.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

I'm sure she's on her way, if not here already.

BTW, Epi/John, she sends her love.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

John has been MIA for a week or 2. I think Sloopy might have snuffed him.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Oh, and she's always here:
What she does with her time.

It's so fucking sad.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Holy fuck! That chick is batshit crazy. Like, kill everyone in a building crazy.

[Rhywun]

I hope she gets the help she needs before... you know.

[Paul.]

It's a shadow site for Reason. I'm... I'm...

[Gene]

Now that's obsession, holy fuck.

[DK]

So, here are the last two comments in a subthread. The first replying to FdA and then 11 minutes later she replies to herself, completely ignorant of what she is writing.

Kizone Kaprow FranciscodAnconia ? 31 minutes ago
"It must kill you to have to harass people from afar."

The projection, the unself-awareness...It's so adorable!
And you don't even know you're doing it!

Kizone Kaprow Kizone Kaprow ? 20 minutes ago
Anyway, it's my understanding that people who suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder always have to have the last word. Do you always have to have the last word, "Francisco"?

[Corning]

Holy fucking fuck i want to cry.

So many people there think it is a OK to bomb a house simply because drugs are sold there.

Aren't drugs a vice?

As in a victim-less crime...since when is reckless violence OK to enforce a victim-less crime?

Jesus an even if there was a victimful crime like say a hostage situation...wouldn't chucking in a bomb that burned a baby that the police did not know was there be investigated and people fired.

The comments and justifications on that site are so fucked up.

Note: I found mary and she is one of those who think bombing babies in the name of fighting drugs is ok...swear to god her whole political philosophy is to figure out what libertarians think then support the opposite.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Snowden attacked in the New Republic (which was once published by a KGB agent named Michael Straight and edited by a useful idiot/comsymp named Henry Wallace):

"Edward Snowden's NBC Interview Revealed His Ultimate Arrogance...

"He *chooses,* in other words, to remain in Moscow because he prefers the protection of the dictator there to trial at the hands of his own government....

"If one calls democratic debate and sunshine the blowing of sensitive intelligence programs in which one's country has invested enormous resources and on which it relies for all sorts of intelligence collection, the exposure is of course harmless. If one regards as a salutary exercise the exposure of one's country's offensive intelligence operations and capabilities to the intelligence services of adversary nations, then of course that exposure does no harm. And if one regards the many billions of dollars American industry has lost as merely a fair tax on its sins for having cooperated with NSA, then sure, no harm there either."

http://www.newrepublic.com/art.....ign=buffer

[MJGreen]

Good boys. Suck it all up, now.

That last line you quoted is particularly great. If only people didn't find out that their networks were infiltrated by the NSA! It's all your fault, Snowden!!

[Sevo]

..."And if one regards the many billions of dollars American industry has lost as merely a fair tax on its sins for having cooperated with NSA, then sure, no harm there either."

They seem to be missing that what harm has been done was not done by the messenger, it was done by the activities exposed.

[Agammamon]

No, no - who was that congressman who, a while back, was saying that you can't have your privacy invaded if you don't know you're privacy is being invaded?

After all, its not the camera in the toilet that hurts you, its *knowing* about the camera in the toilet that is the real crime.

[Chumby]

Please ignore the camera in the toilet. It is for research purposes only.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

And if one regards the many billions of dollars American industry has lost as merely a fair tax on its sins for having cooperated with NSA, then sure, no harm there either.

Won't someone think of the poor collaborators? //Marshal Petain

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

And the best beach in America is...

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

He named Coronado beach #1 last year. Dude is on crack.

[Agammamon]

Is he high - I used to swim not far from there (Silver Strand) and that shit is cold, rough, and opaque.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

It's not even a nice beach. Mine is 100 yards wide, and the sand is so nice that they ship it to Waikiki and Kaanapali.

[kibby]

Please do not take me to any of these beaches. Not a beach person.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Can I take you to see William Shatner LIVE! in Las Vegas?

[kibby]

Uh...no? What kind of relationship do you think we have?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Penn & Teller then?

[kibby]

As if that wasn't my suggestion in the first place!

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Prove it.

[kibby]

Do you want me to post our text message conversations for everyone to see? Because I have zero shame & will do that.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Ha, like you could figure out how to do that. Or would be willing to put forth the effort.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Do you want me to post our text message conversations for everyone to see?

You don't have a hair on your ass (or female equivalent) if you don't.

[kibby]

Unfortunately, the kid is right...I am technologically illiterate & very, very lazy. =(

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

It's okay dear, no one needs to see all that negging I do.

[kibby]

Now we just look like sad, broken people. Thanks tons.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Are there any other kind here at Reason?

[jesse.in.mb]

Unfortunately, the kid is right...I am technologically illiterate & very, very lazy. =(

Do you have an android phone? We can make this happen.

[Corning]

Do you have an android phone? We can make this happen.

Don't you fucking dare!!

it is bad enough as it is.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

What is wrong with you? Beaches are what makes life worth living.

[kibby]

I grew up on a giant lake -- water is boring to me. Mountains & valleys are far more interesting to me now.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Waves, sunshine, and warm sand. Oh, and on nice days, you can see a 10,000 ft mountain from the beach.

[kibby]

I can't wear lots of clothes on a beach, so that's a deal breaker for me.

[Ted S.]

Beaches are not what make life worth living.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

+1 Wind Beneath My Wings

[Trials and Trippelations]

A North Carolina beach made the list, so I am satisfied. Although the people watching at White Trash Beach Carolina Beach is hilarious

[Corning]

You would think the best beach in America would be in the Americas.

[Agammamon]

Las Vegas: William Shatner, a.k.a. Capt. Kirk

WTF is wrong with the LA Times that they thought it was necessary to remind anyone of Shatner's most famous role?

[Sevo]

"Las Vegas: William Shatner, a.k.a. Capt. Kirk"

Las Vegas: Mickey Mouse, a.k.a. the Disney character
No KIDDING!

[Notorious G.K.C.]

William Shakespeare, the noted dramatist

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Darth Vader, the villain in the Star Wars movies.

[kibby]

Way to spoil them for me, dude.

[Ted S.]

The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor at the end of From Here to Eternity.

Thomas More is executed at the end of A Man For All Seasons.

[kibby]

WHY SHOULD I EVEN BOTHER WATCHING THINGS WITH YOU PEOPLE AROUND?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Scarlett swears she loves Rhett but alas, he doesn't give a damn!

[Sevo]

And the signal from Australia was a window shade.

[Ted S.]

You mean it's not this?

[Francisco d'Anconia]

So we went to see The Amazing Spider Man 2.

Spoiler alert:

I haz a sad about the ending. Kinda saw it coming though. Emma's a hotty.

[kibby]

Worth seeing, did you think? I really like the casting in these new ones.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Yeah, I liked it, but I'm not a big film critic. I watch. At the end, I ask myself if I was entertained. If the answer is yes, it's a good flick.

And...Emma.

[kibby]

Superhero movies are meant to be nothing but mindless entertainment -- Marvel gets that & DC just doesn't. Maybe I'll check it out at some point.

[Cytotoxic]

All of the spider man movies are bad. Rami's all suck and the only reason the first one got so many accolades was because it was a step up from the dreadful 'mindless entertainment' that passed for super hero movies previously. The Amazing Spiderman sucked even more ass if that's possible. Didn't care for Toby Macguire's spiderman but the new guy is insufferable. His hair alone is awful.

The 300 sequel was surprisingly good. I here good things about Maleficient.

[american socialist]

Hi,

On the subject of techno-optimism, I did two things today. A.) I filled out my application for a tax credit for my solar water heater and B.) I sucker punched my neighbor's 13 year old daughter, commandeered her lemonade stand and made $5.30 in profit. I rock.

I need some advice... I'm not a libertarian but I'm interested in paranoid libertarian epistemology. Can you help me out in determining which action is more reprehensible-- from a libertarian standpoint. I say B., but I know some of you out there think its A. I'm interested in what you think. If you would, post your reasoning. Thanks,

[Sevo]

"I need some advice."

Drink acid and die.

[Pathogen]

Antifreeze would be more appropriate, and eco-friendly..

[MJGreen]

If only you could've had the state's goons shut down her stand and toss her in a gulag for undermining communal solidarity.

[Cytotoxic]

Take your meds Mary.

[Corning]

but I'm interested in paranoid libertarian epistemology.

The Big bang is bullshit!!

...

Punching the little girl is the worst.

[Chumby]

B isn't libertarian. It violates the non-aggression principle. It is actually progressive, coercive wealth redistribution. It could also be neocon, if the lemonade stand were in a foreign country.

As for A, that could be provided you paid for the tank (and the install and appurtenances etc.) and are net payer of taxes.

[Cytotoxic]

Some strange goings-on in Eastern Ukraine. Some internal coup in the rebel ranks with Chechens and other Russian infiltrators from the Vostok Battalion taking over the insurrection in Donestk. Poroshenko should just kill these assholes already.

[Cytotoxic]

Koch strike force moves in and seizes control of The Guardian. That's the only way to explain how this article got published. In it, Poland's implicitly free-market medical tourism industry takes a giant shit all over the NHS. The best part is the last paragraph and what it hints is coming in the future.

http://www.theguardian.com/bus.....half-price

[Corning]

The past decade or so i have become a home body.

When I get old and my health fails it will be nice to have an excuse to travel.

[Agammamon]

Why, then, are more of us not travelling to Poland to have routine medical treatments carried out?

Hmm, maybe because the NHS threatens to not pay for *any* of your treatment if you do?

And Reason - I don't want a CanAm Spyder. I'm not a senior citizen yet.