What if the Future Is Actually Good?

Today’s guest is Jason Silva, author of The Ecstatic States of America: A Manifesto for a New Country of the Mind, which fuses AI and psychedelics into a techno-optimistic update of themes and ideas that once fueled publications like Whole Earth Catalog and the early years of Wired magazine. The former host of National Geographic’s Brain Games who reaches millions of viewers through his Shots of Awe viral videos, Silva talks with Nick Gillespie about why he is optimistic in an age of intense anxiety, what it was like to grow up in Venezuela as Hugo Chávez’s socialist regime came to power, and why he loves the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness offered by America at its best.

0:00—What are the Ecstatic States of America?

5:26—Technological pessimism

11:36—Psychedelics and the world of drugs

25:42—Artificial intelligence

33:02—Robots and the human experience

41:19—Community frameworks

46:43—Silva’s experience growing up in Venezuela

56:26—Celebrating progress