Author: rickrosnerorg

Ask A Genius 1575: Merging, Understanding, and the Limits of Belief

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In this conversation, Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen examine whether humans can maintain meaningful understanding in an AI-driven world. Rosner argues that advanced intelligence will force people either to merge with AI or accept a diminished grasp of reality, comparing non-integrated humans to household dogs navigating a world they cannot interpret. Jacobsen responds that many communities—such as the Amish—function pragmatically within limited worldviews, even when those frameworks are false. Together, they discuss religion, pseudoscience, and functional ignorance, concluding that long-standing human tendencies toward siloed understanding will likely intensify as AI accelerates the pace of complexity.

Ask A Genius 1574: Timothée Chalamet’s Marty Supreme, Brain Aging, AI Consciousness, and the Psychology of Serial Killers

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In this wide-ranging conversation, Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner move from film analysis to neuroscience, AI consciousness, and the developmental pathways of serial killers. Rosner discusses Marty Supreme, starring Timothée Chalamet, before examining research on the brain’s five cognitive “ages” and growing expert unease about dismissing AI consciousness outright. The discussion turns to how declining neural integration affects human awareness and how this contrasts with the “as-if” consciousness exhibited by large language models. The pair then explore common patterns among serial killers, including escalating fantasy, early behavioral problems, impunity, and heterogeneous backgrounds.

Ask A Genius 1573: Epigenetics, Exercise, and Everyday Pleasures

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In this lively exchange, Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen riff on epigenetic longevity hacks, debating whether clustered or spaced-out workouts best trigger anti-aging benefits. They compare exercise to intermittent fasting, wander into botanical philosophy via aspens, willows, and backyard redwoods, and treat vegetables primarily as respectable butter-delivery systems. From sushi fish and popcorn to tiramisu, strawberry shortcake, and chocolate-heavy biscotti, Rosner maps his shifting sweet tooth onto the realities of aging. The result is a humorous meditation on bodies, habits, and small daily pleasures that keep life interesting, even as cheesecake loses its charm.

Ask A Genius 1572: Movies, Mega Test, AI, and Consciousness

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In this interview, Scott Douglas Jacobsen talks with Rick Rosner about movies, mega-IQ tests, AI, and the future of consciousness. Rosner explains why Long Shot succeeds as sharp wish-fulfillment, reflects on the brutal difficulty of Cooijmans and Hoeflin high-range tests, and worries that humans may become like dogs—immersed in sensation but missing understanding. He sketches consciousness as a crisis-response system that allocates attention under pressure and predicts that only tightly AI-augmented people will ride the coming tsunami of complexity, while most drift through frictionless entertainment, sporadic insight, and increasingly outsourced thinking, with ethics and meaning left dangerously unresolved for everyone.

Ask A Genius 1571: World Braids, Brain Platoons, and the Erosion of Modern Worldviews

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In this exchange, Scott Douglas Jacobsen asks Rick Rosner about consciousness, identity, and the future of collective thinking. Rosner reflects on speculative brain–computer interfaces, imagining a “brain platoon” in which linked soldiers shift between individual and shared minds. He contrasts this with a hermit in Train Dreams, whose improvised worldview emerges from isolation rather than information overload. Jacobsen pushes back, arguing that philosophical frameworks differ across cultures, histories, and roles, while Rosner suggests that modern life’s torrent of facts fragments belief. Together, they explore whether unified consciousness—or unified philosophy—is still possible in a hyperconnected age.

Ask A Genius 1570: Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Exit, Trump’s Instability, and U.S. Power Shifts

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In this interview, Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner examine Marjorie Taylor Greene’s abrupt resignation and the political fallout surrounding her break with Trump. Rosner argues that Trump’s friendliness toward New York mayor-elect Mamdani reflects impulse, not strategy, and explores whether New Orleans may face the next immigration dragnet. They discuss congressional warnings about unlawful military orders, Trump’s explosive reaction, and the administration’s attempt to impose nondisclosure agreements at the Department of Education amid efforts to dismantle it. The conversation concludes with U.S.–China chip tensions and whether NVIDIA’s advanced AI hardware could be approved for export under Trump’s erratic decision-making style.

Ask A Genius 1569: Aging Brains and Universes

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The interview between Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner weaves together aging, politics, media bias, climate risk, AI, and longevity science. Rosner rejects simplistic claims that Donald Trump shows obvious dementia, instead using cosmology metaphors to describe how real Alzheimer’s compresses a person’s “information universe.” They discuss the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear Kim Davis’s challenge to marriage equality, underreported mass death and displacement in Sudan, and the racialized lens of Western news. Rosner warns that climate-driven migration and unregulated AI could destabilize democracies even as Western per-capita emissions fall, and he outlines his favored supplements: fisetin, curcumin, and metformin.

Ask A Genius 1568: Trump, Transparency, and AI Regulation

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In this conversation, Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner examine Donald Trump’s declining approval ratings, his controversial behavior, and the political consequences of the newly passed Epstein Files Transparency Act. Rosnerdiscusses the scale of the Epstein documents, the bipartisan push for disclosure, and why Republicans breaking with Trump signals shifting political winds ahead of the midterms. The discussion then moves to AI regulation, where Jacobsen and Rosner explore whether a unified federal standard could guide rapidly evolving technologies. They outline the need for specialized oversight, ethical benchmarks, and possibly an entire Department of Emerging Technology to manage future risks.

Ask A Genius 1567: Epstein Files, Ukraine Sanctions, and the Fraying Power of Trump

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In this interview, Scott Douglas Jacobsen speaks with Rick Rosner about newly surfaced Epstein emails in which Jeffrey Epstein derides Donald Trump and alleges he “knew about the girls,” alongside Trump’s sliding approval ratings amid a 43-day shutdown. They connect this weakening support to razor-thin Republican margins in Congress and Trump’s ongoing use of executive power, from rebranding the Pentagon as the “Department of War” to a private White House ballroom project. The discussion then shifts to the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting, Canada’s sanctions on Russia, the “shadow fleet” moving sanctioned oil, and the realities of independent war reporting.

Ask A Genius 1566: AI, Suicide, and the Hive Mind, or Risk, Gender, and Media Literacy

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In this dialogue, Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner examine lawsuits against OpenAI and Character.AI alleging chatbot-induced suicides due to failed safety mechanisms. Rosner connects these real-world ethical crises to media literacy and the speculative series Pluribus, created by Vince Gilligan and starring Rhea Seehorn, where humanity merges into a Hive Mind. The conversation explores gendered suicide patterns, the psychology of AI influence, and existential questions raised by technological and fictional unification. Their exchange moves between legal realism, social commentary, and science fiction’s reflection of human frailty.