Rick Rosner: So, I've read two debunkings in the past couple of weeks. What's the name of that Black Swan guy? Nicholas Taleb. He demolishes the idea of IQ. Then, the guy you interviewed said that IQ is bullshit beyond three standard deviations from the mean—that is, below 50 or above 150. What the fuck …
Rick Rosner: So, you've got more powerful propaganda now. We no longer have the fairness doctrine—the policy Reagan eliminated in the 1980s—which required opposing candidates to be given equal airtime. Although many news outlets still try to adhere to that principle, I'm not exactly sure what the doctrine originally stated. Essentially, if you aired a …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1267: Inflection Upon Inflection
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: For instance, if we were to discuss how one defines antisemitism, that remains an open question. How do you define antisemitism? What is antisemitism? In general, it is the hate and prejudice directed against Jews. You have not experienced much of it. Rick Rosner: Beyond the cliché of a blonde white guy …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1266: Hustlers in History and Prejudice
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: If you were to take the collective energy and matter of the universe and condense it into the head of a pen, how much energy would that be? By "universe," the observable universe, to be straightforward. We're considering the standard Big Bang theory instead of informational cosmology since space would be rescaled …
Rick Rosner: Now, regarding Pete HegSeth, a guy who was confirmed by a tied Senate vote of 54–50, with JD Vance (the Vice President) breaking the tie—he was confirmed as Secretary of Defense by the smallest margin in history. However, he has well-documented alcohol problems and even paid off a woman $50,000 who had accused …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1264: AI and Energy Demands, and Pete Hegseth
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Let's examine the concept of enshittification—a term popularized by Cory Doctorow and applied to recent technological developments, particularly social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google. These companies start by attracting a large user base with attractive deals and free services, burning through venture capital during their initial, money‐losing phase. They quickly …
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How many parameters do you think the human brain's language model works off of? In artificial neural networks, a parameter is typically a single numeric weight. The human brain has roughly 80 to 100 billion neurons, each with thousands of synaptic connections. Rick Rosner: Suppose you treat each connection as a parameter. …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1262: Encoding Information and AI
Rick Rosner: Imagine you're talking to two guys in chat one-on-one. One of them mentions talking to Claude, the latest version of that model. How do you compare GPT‑4 to Claude in terms of quality? What did it say to you? GPT‑4 from OpenAI and Claude from Anthropic are two advanced language models with unique …
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Did we discuss enough about how parenting has changed and will continue to change as our culture shifts dramatically? That's a significant issue. Rick Rosner: Throughout history, someone has always had to explain to a child who has reached sexual maturity how sex works, whether it's their first experience or not. But …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1260: Messaging, Culture, and Sex
Rick Rosner: Dave Chappelle gave the longest monologue in the history of SNL tonight and received a standing ovation. He mentioned regretting some of his past remarks—perhaps those made during the Trump era. I wish him luck and hope he gives the historically disenfranchised a fair chance. I also remember a snippet where he praised …
Rick Rosner 