Ep. 46 Immersion And The Science of The Extraordinary with Dr. Paul Zak, Professor and Chief Immersion Officer - Immersion Neuroscience

ABOUT DR. PAUL ZAK:

Dr. Paul Zak’s LinkedIn Profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-zak-91123510/

Websites:

• Immersion book link: https://www.amazon.com/Immersion-Science-Extraordinary-Source-Happiness/dp/1544531974/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1669735115&sr=8-1
• Twitter: @pauljzak
• Website: https://pauljzak.com
• Website: https://www.cgu.edu/people/paul-zak/
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_J._Zak

Email

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Dr. Paul Zak's Bio:

Dr. Paul J. Zak is a Professor at Claremont Graduate University and is ranked in the top 0.3% of most cited scientists with over 180 published papers and more than 19,000 citations to his research. Paul’s ten decades of research have taken him form the Pentagon to Fortune 50 boardrooms to the rainforest of Papua New Guinea. Along the way he helped start a number of interdisciplinary fields including neuroeconomics, neuromanagement, and neuromarketing. He has written three general audience books and is a regular TED speaker. His newest book is Immersion: The Science of the Extraordinary and Source of Happiness. 

Paul is also a four-time tech entrepreneur; his current company, Immersion Neuroscience, is a software platform that allows anyone to measure what the brain loves in real-time to improve outcomes in entertainment, education and training, live events and to help people sustain emotional wellness. 

He frequently appears in the media in such places as Good Morning America, Dr. Phil, Fox & Friends, ABC Evening News, and his work has been reported in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Time, The Economist, Scientific American, Fast Company, Forbes, and various podcasts. Fun fact: he is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and has created dialog for two movies.

SHOW INTRO:
For some time, I have been intrigued by experience making, especially those that we might qualify as ‘immersive.’ 

When I have imagined what these experiences might be like, I have mostly considered them as being in places that surround you with an environment that is all encompassing, enveloping you in multi-sensory input.

Immersive digital environments can do this.

I have a deep enthusiasm for the merger of digital technologies, especially in our nascent capacity to blend art, AI and neuroscience into data visualizations.  

I have a fascination in the creation of places that make the invisible, data, visible.

The digitally immersive experiences we now see like the multiple Van Gogh exhibits - or those that bring the art of other famous artists like Picasso, and Degas to digital life - are beautiful and are part of a shift in the nature and relevancy of museums. 

Venues are emerging like Artechouse whose immersive experiences have included the digital virtuosity of data visualization artist Refik Anadol. Companies like Moment Factory are transforming disquieting nighttime forests into delightful walks illuminated with stories projected on trees.

These are all captivating and visually rich experiences. 

And yet, I have equally puzzled over the idea that ‘immersion’, as an idea, is more than data paintings filling museum spaces from floor to ceiling. 

Immersion is more than a feast for the visual, and maybe auditory, systems of our brains. 

On some level, I have felt that ‘Immersion’ is something more transformative. Something that activates areas of our brains that are