Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Quick question: are you a fan of boxers or briefs? Rick Rosner: For most of my life, I wore tighty whities because I’ve got varicose veins and need support—my balls flop around otherwise. I could never wear old-school boxers where everything is just flapping. But tighty whities got creepy, so now I wear boxer …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1110: Keeping Everything in Place…ya know, down there
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is more important: kindness, empathy, or intelligence? Rick Rosner: It depends on the context, but kindness is the most important in building a decent society. If people are consistently kind to each other, society can function well. You don't have to understand others fully to be kind to them. Empathy extends …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1109: “What is more important: kindness, empathy, or intelligence?”
Rick Rosner: We've discussed this a lot. You're kind, empathetic, and not American, so you probably don't subscribe to this view as much as I do. However, I see the 2024 election as one between people with reasonable intelligence—on the liberal side—and people suffering from Dunning-Kruger on the other. It doesn't mean everyone who votes for …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1108: Kind, Empathic, and Not American
Rick Rosner: So, it's fall, which was a time that everyone looked forward to—at least in America—when the new shows would debut on network TV. Now, with a gazillion channels, network TV is less appealing than the higher quality, more challenging shows available elsewhere. But there are still shows on network TV premiering now, including …
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, I interviewed with Steven Pinker. I had some correspondence with someone who is a dissenter from him. They cited people that Pinker has either been associated with or has referenced in his work and, therefore, concluded that Pinker is both a bad researcher and a bad person—or at least suspiciously so, something …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1106: The Matter with What We Think Matters
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What's going on with newer AI platforms for the Bay Area? Rick Rosner: AI is like the Wild West in some ways, but in other ways, it's not. Companies like Alphabet and Microsoft are pouring billions of dollars into developing powerful AI like ChatGPT, so that's not the Wild West—that's heavy industry. But these …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1105: Adaptive Kink and Dynamics
Rick Rosner: Informational cosmology has been a theme throughout our talks for ten years. Bit by bit, it's becoming a complete theory. When we last discussed it, I want to mentioned information pressure—the idea that increasing information in a semi-closed, self-consistent system, like a universe, drives time. It embodies time. Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Right; the …
Rick Rosner: So, while you were away, I do not remember my dreams very often, and I have forgotten this one now. Still, I remembered that a whole lot of ridiculous bullshit happened in this dream that did not comport with my reality at all. I was working at Kimmel in some capacity, but there …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1103: Scott’s, in fact, Alive, and Rick’s Dreams
Rick Rosner: So, Harris has been the Dems' candidate for about a month now. There are about 70-80 days to go until the election, which means people, depending on the state, can start early voting as soon as a few weeks from now. In many states, early voting might begin about seven weeks from now. …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1102: Harris as the Dem. Candidate
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How do you feel about having more white hair? Rick Rosner: I feel bad about having a ton of white hair. I feel bad about having an old-looking face. I've done so many pilots about myself as the guy with among ‘the highest IQs in America’ or as part of a team …
Rick Rosner 