Rick Rosner: I can’t recall why exactly, but someone on Twitter (I don’t remember their name) once gave a short talk where they mentioned that everyone they know with an IQ over 180 has trouble avoiding “doofus traps.” I love that term. It stings a bit because I’ve fallen into plenty myself—I used to call …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1233: What counts as doofus traps for smart people?
*Interview conducted in November, 2024.* Scott Douglas Jacobsen: When was the last time you went to synagogue, Rick? Rick Rosner: The last time was for my mom’s memorial, over two years ago. Besides that, I haven’t been back. But we did watch No One Will Watch This, which is about Jews and stars Kristen Bell …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1183: Rick’s Mixed Relationship with Synagogue
[Recording Start] Rick Rosner: We are 99 days away from the 2022 midterm elections in America, which hold comparable importance to the 2020 election that was pivotal in removing Trump from office. The current political climate remains tense, with Trumpian forces still active. If Republicans gain control of both the House and the Senate, they …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 772: 99 Days from the Mid-Term Elections
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: This is on the Turing test. Go ahead. Rick Rosner: So I mentioned I wanted to talk about the Turing test and we did get around to it but you did tell me you read Hawkins’s paper on it. You told me to read it and I didn't get around …
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: This is the other topic of consciousness. Go ahead. Rick Rosner: All right. We know that existence is inevitable because the rules of existence, the rules that prohibit certain kinds of existence, particularly contradictory existence aren't all encompassing enough to stop existence. We've postulated that anything that can exist does …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 770: Consciousness and the Rules of Existence
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: You wanted to talk about consciousness in two different kinds of contexts. What do you think about it? Rick Rosner: All right. So, I just got done talking about our hopelessly divided country which includes a third of the country being persuaded to believe that any fertilized human egg deserves …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 769: Hopelessly Divided Consciousness
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Richard Feynman – “The Nature's imagination far surpasses our own.” Rick Rosner: Yeah, scientists especially scientists who become quotable by being recognized as great scientists have lots of aphorisms. Sometimes you can appreciate them as themselves. Einstein talked about ‘God doesn't play dice with the universe’, ‘If this Theory isn't …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 768: Another Richard Feynman Quote
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: A Richard Feynman quote. This is from The Character of Physical Law, 1965, chapter one: the law of gravitation, page 15. “This is the key of modern science and is the beginning of the true understanding of nature– this idea that to look at the thing, to record the details, …
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: “The difference between us and them, between you and success, is not that you never fail, but it's how you recover from those failures - is that you keep getting up time and time again. You figure out what did wrong and you make it right. I say that to …
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: “The difference between us and them, between you and success, is not that you never fail, but it's how you recover from those failures - is that you keep getting up time and time again. You figure out what did wrong and you make it right. I say that to …
Rick Rosner 