‪Optimism is a Self-Amplifying Feedback Loop‬

That someone so naive is given such a large podium is depressing. How's that for an optimism feedback loop?

You need to have money to think like this.

People who live in desperate poverty know that you can think positive as much as you like it changes nothing.

@Nikki - I think Jason is doing an excellent job of engaging the uninformed masses. I remember when I was far more "naive" than he is.

P~

@Pete, Yes, that is true.

Here is my issue: Jason Silva's concern for correctness is weak. He is a sloppy thinker, and he creates sloppy ideas. There are malformed concepts throughout his work. Being a monist, one has to acknowledge that the holding of poorly formed ideas is not something inert. Thus creating them and spreading them is to simultaneously create the task of identifying the errors and rejecting them. Think of any charismatic theorist promoting a life philosophy of sorts in history who was sloppy in their methods but had influence to where people enjoyed holding the idea, found the person appealing, and/or don't have the critical thinking skills to reject it ... Culture, and other thinkers, however implicitly, have to expend effort dissolving these malformed concepts and ideas, and that which they permeate, which can take a great deal of time and effort. It's a kind of garbage clean up; a garbage clean up of messy concepts. To the extent that he is sloppy, he creates unnecessary ‘noise’ and work for other people by actively trying to maximize the attention he is paid. Jason Silva is "naive" as a thinker in that he hasn't yet identified the importance of being more careful and considered about his ideas and does not aim to be correct in the way that serious thinkers (putting forth a psycho-philosophy of sorts) aim to be correct. He gives himself permission to play with sophisticated concepts in a frivolous way. That being said, sometimes he is surprising, and identifies some more complex emotions in a more considered way.

Anyway ... he is not malevolent i don't think. He is not knowingly tiling the universe with overly-simplistic, overly-exaggerated, or malformed concepts to where he would feel he is doing something negative. I think he has an easy life in certain ways, has a lot of energy, and is appealing. People pay attention, and it's good that he feels he is using this influence to get people's spirits up and motivate them toward building a better future. And I am of course enthusiastic that he has the influence to provide an introduction and create mass appeal for a field that is typically marginalized and passed over. If you watch the question-answer session after his presentation at the Singularity Summit you will see some critical thinkers put him on the spot for the lack of rigor and consideration in the ideas ... he indicates, through body language and nervous laughter, some awareness that he is evading something, but nonetheless gives himself permission to ignore certain things in favor of a message that is more compelling, unified, more absolute, and more motivating.

@nikki - Well said!

Let's hope that Jason Silva doesn't become the next L. Ron Hubbard. Doubt he will, there are too many well informed and extraordinary people keeping a close eye on him.

Jason Silva is a genius.

I find it hard to believe that he does not know, on some more explicit level, what he is doing here. There comes a point where we have to realize that this is his *main* *job*.
This isn't a hobby.
This is his career.
And he is a public personality... not a kid making videos.
Not-being-naive is a responsibility for such a public person. And it's not hard to understand when you are not getting things quite correct... over and over and over and over again.
Yeah, Jason Silva's presence at conferences like the Singularity Summit is concerning. I was there this past September and he definitely stands out as someone who is thinking "differently" about these ideas.
Something just doesn't add up.
I think you've captured things quite well, Nikki. Anyone listening should take it upon themselves to take a step back from his intoxicating presence and think: Am I being taken for a ride by this idiot? The answer is yes, obviously.
Somewhere inside his (perhaps) tiny mind, *somewhere* he knows he lacks integrity. And it's a frustrating reflection on culture that that is not easier to detect.