Ask A Genius 1171: Mr. Evolution Via Natural Selection

*Interview conducted in October-November, 2024.* Scott Douglas Jacobsen: By the way, what would the surface area of the Earth be if it were laid out flat in two dimensions? Rick Rosner: The Earth’s total surface area is roughly 200 million square miles, with land making up about 50 million square miles. Jacobsen: That seems close …

Continue reading Ask A Genius 1171: Mr. Evolution Via Natural Selection

Ask A Genius 901: Mr. and Mrs. Smith

[Recording Start]  Rick Rosner: Carole and I started watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the TV series inspired by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, a Doug Liman movie from probably 15 years ago. It's where Brad and Angelina met and fell in love, perhaps 17 or 18 years ago. In both the film and the series, the …

Continue reading Ask A Genius 901: Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Ask A Genius 900: Canadian and American Politics

[Recording Start]  Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, I wanted to make a point about comparing Canadian and American politics. A recent thing arose that I think is essential with a woman named Selena Robinson; she's the minister of postsecondary education and future skills of British Columbia. She made an insensitive, according to many, comment about Israel and …

Continue reading Ask A Genius 900: Canadian and American Politics

Ask A Genius 899: California Under Attack?

[Recording Start]  Rick Rosner: California is attacked by Conservatives for just being a liberal hell and that people are fleeing California for the free states of Texas and Florida. There's a lot of bullshit in that California has lost about 1% of its population. Some people made a ton of money in California and want to …

Continue reading Ask A Genius 899: California Under Attack?

Ask A Genius 898: Niches of Persistence

[Recording Start]  Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, I proposed a topic on how evolution finds all niches of persistence. Those are generic abstract terms. I wanted to start with reproduction styles, and I'm speaking more about biological reproduction. So, our species has its form of reproduction, and I'm speaking purely in terms of a continuation of a …

Continue reading Ask A Genius 898: Niches of Persistence

Ask A Genius 871: Persistence is Consistency and a Tangle of Information, Embedded

[Recording Start]  Rick Rosner: When we talk about persistence, we're talking about interesting persistence instead of a rocky planet with no life. I mean, yeah, it can exist and will exist for maybe tens of billions of years, but not so interestingly. So, interesting persistence is life and things that can respond and survive via thought …

Continue reading Ask A Genius 871: Persistence is Consistency and a Tangle of Information, Embedded