Max and Jason: Still Up Blog

Had a chance to see a screening of Patrick Shen’s new documentary The Philosopher Kings (http://www.philosopherkingsmovie.com).. a deeply human exploration of the people we never see and about wisdom found in unlikely places… Patrick Shen is the co-founder of Transcendental Media, a production company whose goal is to “agitate the sleep of mankind”.  Their first film, Flight From Death, is a brilliant exploration of death anxiety and the work of psychologist Ernest Becker.   Check out their work if you ever get a chance and you wish to “wake up”. 
-Jason

My mind is still reeling from the unthinkable air france disaster.. and in searching for a way to articulate some perspective on what this really kind of feels like, I came across this blog entry… have a read-

http://blogs.travelmail.co.uk/2009/06/the-loss-of-air-france-flight-447-the-nightmare-scenario-for-any-air-traveller.html

-Jason

My heart goes out to the families of the victim of the devastating air france disaster. I am sad, confused and angry. This just doesn’t make sense. Modern airliners don’t just fall out of the sky. These marvels of engineering are DESIGNED to handle turbulence; they are DESIGNED to withstand lighting, they have radars and electronics with TRIPLE redundancy (and more). The flying public is flooded with reassurances on the safety of flying, the reliability of airplanes. Its more dangerous just driving to the airport, we are told. And yet when something like this happens, all our consolations fall by the wayside. I am terrified. I want to understand. This plane was barely 5 years old. It has fly-by-wire: this means computers will not let the plane maneuver outside its airworthiness design limits. Envelope protection they call it. This is an exquisite machine. What the hell happened?
-Jason

Just read an interesting article in Newsweek about Ray Kurzweil and here is in essence how he justifies his amazing claims about the future (quoting below):

“Kurzweil makes predictions based on a notion that he calls “the law of accelerating returns,” which holds that technology does not advance in a linear fashion but rather at an exponential rate. It’s the difference between 1-2-3-4-5 and 1-2-4-8-16. Go out 10 steps and the linear string has reached 10, while the exponential string is hitting 512. With an exponential progression, at first, when the numbers are small, the progress doesn’t look like much. But each new breakthrough enables the next breakthrough to occur more quickly, so the rate of change accelerates. Represented on a graph, the line of progress looks like a hockey stick—it’s flat for some years, and then there’s a sudden rise, which gets misinterpreted as a sudden breakthrough when really it’s just the continuation of an exponential progression, Kurzweil says.

He cites as an example the work of the Human Genome Project. In 1990 scientists had managed to transcribe only one ten-thousandth of the genome over an entire year. Yet their goal was to sequence the entire genome in 15 years. After seven years, only 1 percent had been sequenced. But, in fact, the project was on track. The rate of progress was doubling every year, which meant that when researchers finished 1 percent they were only seven steps away from reaching 100 percent. Indeed, the project was completed in 2003. “People thought it would take centuries,” Kurzweil says, because they foolishly believed that technology could advance only in a linear fashion.

That same kind of linear thinking fuels the current hysteria about global warming. “People are assuming that nothing will change in the next few decades. They’re ignoring the progression in renewable energy,” Kurzweil says. After studying the subject, he and Google’s Larry Page concluded that the nanotechnologies needed to collect the energy of the sun are advancing at such a pace that in 20 years, solar power will be able to provide 100 percent of the earth’s energy needs.

What happens then? Once computers are a billion times more powerful than today—and we’re all a bunch of cyborgs with brains like supercomputers and bodies that can’t be killed by disease? For one thing, stuff starts progressing really, really fast. Imagine a thousand scientists, each a thousand times smarter than they are today, operating a thousand times faster. First thing these smarty-pants cyborgs will do, Kurzweil reckons, is make themselves even smarter, and then smarter still, until intelligence is sprouting all over the place like some kind of crazy out-of-control IQ kudzu. Eventually you’ve got scientists who are a million times smarter and a million times faster than they are today. Breakthroughs should be popping up all over. “An hour would result in a century of progress [in today's terms],” Kurzweil claims in The Singularity Is Near. Eventually, we leap beyond the boundaries of our planet, and every bit of matter in the entire universe becomes intelligent. “This,” Kurzweil concludes, “is the destiny of the universe.”" – From Newsweek.

This guy is a genius!
-Jason

We watched the film FOOD INC. today and we are interviewing the director tomorrow. Wow. What a film… Everyone should watch this remarkable and illuminating documentary… it is only be elevating our awareness and collective consciousness can we as a society make the demands on the market to create a move towards more sustainable and healthier ways of producing food. Things really cannot continue as they are… google the film, visit the website, watch the trailer, embed it on your facebook and go see the film! Thanks everyone!
-Max and Jason

So this weekend I had the privilege of watching a must-see documentary entitled “A Sealed Fate?” created by Nigel Barker of “America’s Next Top Model” fame. The film, about Canada’s notorious annual seal hunt, captures the beauty of these animals and paints a very clear picture of why this unnecessary atrocity needs to be loudly condemned. I had actually gotten my hands on the doc a few weeks ago when Jason and I hosted an event for the Humane Society, celebrating the launch of the film along with Nigel’s still photography exhibit of the same idea. Now, we’re not exactly regular viewers of “ANTM” but I certainly knew who Nigel was from catching clips of the show on E! and VH1 and what-have-you. However, I had no idea what a compassionate and fervently outspoken guy he in fact was, until that evening. He’s definitely a great example of a successful guy who is using his notoriety for the greater good – we love that. Back to the doc. Aside from being filmed in an adventurous style – taking the viewer on the treacherous journey with Nigel and crew – depicts, without sensationalism, the brutality that some Canadian fishermen commit for apparently no good reason… From the Humane Society’s website:

Through his exhibit, Barker hopes to educate the public about the brutal seal hunt, the largest slaughter of marine mammals on the planet, and increase appreciation for these creatures. His photographs from the seal nursery capture the beauty and innocence of being on the ice with these gentle animals.

“This exhibit is a celebration of the seals’ lives, what they are, and their transformation during their short life. I want to bring a spotlight to show people what they look like, right up until they die, so people realize what we are losing,” Barker said.

Highly recommend this doc for anyone! Look for it online (I couldn’t find a proper link as of this posting, but if anyone can locate one and send it my way, that would be great) and visit humanesociety.org/protectseals for more information on Canada’s seal hunt and what kinds of things you can do to stop it.

Hey, just wanted to pass along a couple bits of info. Tonight’s show is all about how great films have influenced our lives and our culture. The best part is that the whole show is hosted from Lebowski Fest. So tune in to see Max and Jason drink white russians and attempt to bowl. Secondly, Max and Jason will be back posting on Monday, so be sure to check back then for their words of wisdom. Have a great weekend and check out Max and Jason’s interview with The Dude himself tonight at Midnight Eastern, 11 Pacific.

Is there a topic you’d like to see Max and Jason discuss?  A change to the show’s format?  Let us know in the comments section.  And to give you an early heads up, tomorrow night’s show is from Lebowski Fest, so if you want to see the boys bowl and drink White Russians, be sure to check it out.

I recently had the chance to watch the film Transcendent Man- The documentary is about the life and ideas of Ray Kurzweil… Coined the rightful heir to Edison, Ray Kurzweil has been awarded every possible scientific honor there is, his scientific extrapolations and predictions about the future have a almost perfect 30 year track record, and his predictions for the next couple of decades will make any sci-fi junkie drool…

Among his predictions- We will gain mastery over our biochemistry, reprogram it, cure every disease including aging itself… we will use biotech and nanotech to improve ourselves, the shift from biological evolution to technological evolution will assure that the rate of accelerating change and improvement will continue exponentially until humanity 2.0. emerges, and finally a super-consciousness man/machine hybrid will seed the universe with intelligence…

The film ends with a quite poetic line where Kurzweil discusses the existence of God.  Does he believe that god exists? “Not yet” he answers.  I laughed and was reminded of a line from Alan Harrington’s excellent book, The Immortalist: “Having invented the gods, now we can become them.”  For more information, visit www.Transcendentman.com and www.kurzweilai.net

-Jason

As the producer of “Still Up,” I thought I should share with you what it’s like to work with Max and Jason. In short, it’s a bit like controlling the weather. You can’t. They are a fiery mix of talent and unpredictability. They ad-lib, pace the studio floor, and if it’s a bad day, trash the set and send PA’s scurrying for cover. Sure, they may look laid-back and fun on camera, but when the cameras stop rolling, it can be brutal. Oh–I better stop writing this because I think I hear them coming. Wait…yep, they’re almost here. Next time, I’ll share wi–ARGH! Jason’s hands are now around my neck and–OW!…hard to breathe…no, please, Max–stop the punching and choking…passing..out…