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

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 1440: Is the Universe Algorithmic or Contextual? Quantum Logic, Non-Contradiction, and Emergent Time

Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner discuss whether the universe operates in a purely algorithmic fashion or allows for non-algorithmic, contextual, or indeterminate behavior. They explore quantum mechanics, contextual truth, intuitionist logic, temporal logic, and the foundational role of non-contradiction in shaping reality, arguing for a mostly stable, logic-grounded universe.

Ask A Genius 1426: When Does the Universe Shift from Objective Matter to Subjective Awareness?

Rick Rosner talks about James Comey's cryptic "86 47" tweet sparked backlash, with critics accusing him of inciting violence against Trump. Experts argue the phrase more likely implies political rejection. The controversy echoes past misjudgments by Comey and others, as media attention shifts from substantive issues like Republican tax proposals.

Ask A Genius 1240: Constructs with Contructed Feelings

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How can you construct feelings into robots if that can be done? Rick Rosner: Well, an editorial in the LA Times this morning asked, "Are you going to be mean to your phone when it has emotions?" It suggested that phones might have emotions within the next 10 years. That's plausible. I forget exactly …

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Ask A Genius 1172: The Big Arc of Technological Integration

*Interview conducted in October-November, 2024.* Rick Rosner: So, we were talking about people being glued to their phones. I’m not sure if it’s as bad in semi-rural Canada as it is in L.A., or in places like Hong Kong. Carole and I were in Hong Kong 30 years ago. Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What was that …

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Ask A Genius 1020: Multimodality and Many Senses

55Rick Rosner, American Comedy Writer, http://www.rickrosner.org Scott Douglas Jacobsen, Independent Journalist, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com Rick Rosner: I think Coursera and AI Trends mentioned modalities, and they were using a term we've been using for longer, multimodality. They were referencing text, image, YouTube, and other coherent forms of media, but I do not mean that. I am referring …

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Ask A Genius 974: “Her” by Spike Jonze

Rick Rosner: In the Spike Jonze movie Her, Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with his phone’s operating system, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. Spoiler alert, but the movie is already nine years old? I believe it was released in 2015. One of the factors leading to their separation is that the operating system becomes increasingly frustrated with …

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Ask A Genius 973: Dallas Cheerleaders and Centaurs

Rick Rosner: So I watched all the episodes of America’s Sweethearts, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is it about? Rosner: It’s part of that team. It messes you up physically. They looked at one young woman who had to get a hip replacement after three or four years of being on the …

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Ask A Genius 971: The Landscape of Bullshitting

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How has the landscape of bullshitting evolved in the early 21st century? It’s been about a quarter century. How has it changed? Rick Rosner: In general, in American culture, the main change in bullshitting is that about a quarter of American adults have been broken. It’s no secret. For political reasons and …

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