Name: A Philosopher's Mind Trip
Uploaded: 2017-04-09T09:46:52.000Z
Duration: 6 min 17 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

What sorts of things are you waxing poetic about these days?

I stumble upon an idea that captures my imagination,

something articulated in a counter intuitive way,

a different spin on technology, a different spin

on the future of humanity, that kind of gets my motors going

LAURA LING: Tell me about your series "Shots of Awe."

JASON SILVA: So "Shots of Awe" came from a desire

to use media, to use cameras to immortalize inspiration.

I refuse to accept that these moments had

I choose to film them, to record them, to capture them.

And it was a way of gaining control over these experiences.

And I could create an intersubjective communication

got to show you what it was like to be in my head

So "Shots of Awe" are philosophical espresso shots,

with these stream of consciousness riffs?

JASON SILVA: I started getting into this idea of flow states

about doing brain scans on freestyle rappers

when they were reciting memorized lyrics.

of the brain that is responsible for our self-editing, our sense

of self-consciousness, that part goes dim during the freestyle.

So essentially, you're getting out of your own way.

say perfection is not just about control,

So I can have all my notes and my thoughts

And just the stroll and the disconnection from distraction

start to do a little bit of the lateral thinking.

So you start connecting this to that and this.

So you start to go through the aha moments.

And if you are lucky enough to have the camera around,

I mean it literally feels like channeling.

So for me, I figured out how to create my flow state.

And the results tend to be these riffs that people really love.

And they're like what, there's no script.

That was a completely extemporaneous stream

I'm normally kind of an introvert and kind of shy

But if the conditions are right, like a flame it emerges.

We never have a true, accurate rendition of reality

because it's all about our perception, our projections,

LAURA LING: So you said if you can create that flow state,

JASON SILVA: I have found that the best way is to take

yourself out of context, so a new experience,

a new space in a new place so that I transcend what Michael

Pollan calls the been there's and done that's of the adult

mind/ And I can enter the consciousness of the child.

around me-- so rest, relaxation, novel spaces, novel

environments, disconnection, disconnection

LAURA LING: What happens when you don't achieve that flow?

Actually, irritable is probably the best word.

LAURA LING: Can you describe how it feels to be in that state?

JASON SILVA: It feels like unbelievable lucidity, instant

recall, just this capacity to explain what you're feeling

Subtitles ListPlay Video

A Philosopher's Mind Trip

literally

anxiety

articulate

cognitive