Afshan Ahmed I'm baffled by the things that people take for granted," says Jason Silva, the host of National Geographic's Emmy-nominated show Brain Games. The third season of the popular science programme has been dubbed in Arabic and will debut tomorrow on National Geographic Abu Dhabi, a partner of Abu Dhabi Media, which owns The National.
“The fact that I am communicating with you from the other side of the planet, we can hear each other’s thoughts, is a kind of technological telepathy,” says Silva on the phone from the United States. “I can make vibrations through my lips and send it through the sky and how they reach your ear and brain is a technological miracle and that astounds me every day.
“Human beings have been able to achieve so much because of their creativity – we’ve been to the Moon, built marvellous aircrafts – I mean look at the city of Dubai, built in such a short time. Mankind’s capacity to transform his environment, to extend his reach, is something worth celebrating.”
Every response by the 32-year-old Venezuelan-American presenter is nothing short of enthusiastic, and it is perhaps this contagious optimism about technological possibilities – first demonstrated in Silva's short-film series Shots of Awe on YouTube – that caught National Geographic's attention when it approached him for Brain Games in 2011.
Shots of Awe, which he calls "very short trailers for the mind", are slick videos that combine various ideas, from the co-evolution of humans and technology to existentialism.
Brain power
Silva, who is also a frequent speaker at TEDTalks – the international conferences with a focus on technology, entertainment and design – says he has “a love affair with ideas”, and his novel production method has earned him the tag “Idea DJ”.
“I do with ideas what a DJ does with music,” says Silva, who focused on philosophy and film studies at university. “In the same way a DJ will mix and remix samples from different songs to create a new feeling or experience, I create a series of videos that combine various ideas into intense stream-of-consciousness videos.”
Science made simple
Brain Games, which received an Emmy nomination this year for Outstanding Informational Series, attempts to break down science experiments that probe into the functioning of the brain into living-room games and puzzles, making complicated concepts easy to understand.
"Brain Games is a pop-science series about the brain, about neuroscience, and uses interactive games and experiments to teach you about perceptions and reality," says Silva.
“Through participating in these interactive games, viewers at home not just get to learn about how their brain works, but experience loopholes in their perceptions. Most people take their perception of reality for granted, and playing these games reminds us that we have limitations. That is humbling and makes us curious to learn more.”
The next level
The show has tackled various topics including focus, fear, persuasion, decision-making and retraining the brain. The Battle of the Sexes episode, which pits men against women to prove "genders are not created equally", will return this season as well, plus episodes about the paranormal, risk-taking, addiction, logic and sleep.
“We are taking things to the next level in terms of topics,” says Silva. “Something people appreciate in the show is that we bring real brain experts and lab experiments and adapt them to be television friendly.
“The show on logic was really fun to make because there are a lot of games that require you to use logic, which sometimes is difficult. And the episode on common sense is my favourite. You realise common sense is not very common at all,” he says with a laugh.
An immersive experience
National Geographic complements the TV show by packaging various puzzles and trivia into interactive online multimedia to reach a wider audience.
“Science has to compete in the marketplace of ideas,” Silva says, adding that it is important to create curiosity about the subject. “If you want people to be excited about science and the process, you have to package it in an appealing way and sell it in a way that is irresistible, because otherwise people think it is boring.”
Looking to the future
What does Silva predict will be the height of advancement for mankind?
“I’m looking forward to a revolution in biotechnology and health care,” he says. “Once we really master the language of biology and genetics, we will be able to upgrade our biological software the way we upgrade the software on our smartphones. We will be able to overcome a lot of the limitations in our biology, whether it is reprogramming the body away from diseases, reprogramming it away from the ageing process and upgrading our mental capacity. All this is very exciting and it’s going to take human beings to the next level.”
• Brain Games debuts tomorrow at 9pm on National Geographic Abu Dhabi. For more information, visit www.natgeotv.com/ae
aahmed@thenational.ae
