Ask A Genius 1595: Why Advertising Slogans Work

Rick Rosner: “Modern advertising learned that short beats clever when attention is scarce. Slogans compress into cues: they stop functioning as language and become reminders. Once a product is decent, advertising mostly says, ‘We are still here. Come get us.’ That is why it works.”

Ask A Genius 1594: Venezuela, Power, and Why Language Made Humans Dangerous Generalists

“When bad actors face no practical constraints, that is always dangerous. Language let us compress reality into symbols, freeing our minds to roam more widely. That same generalist power makes us adaptable—but it also means our systems can fragment when pressure rises. The slope does not always look slippery, until it does.”

Ask A Genius 1588: Zelensky’s Mar-a-Lago Optics, Trump’s Putin Signals, and the Donbas Deadlock

“Putin is unlikely to agree to that outcome. Trump is seventy-eight and was never known for sustained intellectual discipline. He is not unintelligent, but he is mentally undisciplined. He will likely keep acting in increasingly blatant ways until the midterms or remaining institutions restrain him. Through courts, lawsuits, or polling.”