[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How come things suck in an age of Marvels? Rick Rosner: It's not how come; it's that they do it. It sucks that things suck in an age of Marvels. We are nearly a quarter of the way through the 21st century, which is a science fiction century. When people …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 718: Things Suck in an Age of Marvels
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: You came up with a really great phrase right before recording and it was the triumph of make-believe and I was talking about some personalities which is part of a larger phenomena of people who live in a self-made world of make-believe and so my question to you is what …
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: As the long-standing comedy writer in our duo and a member of the Mega Society, known for its one-in-a-million high IQ individuals, you have a unique perspective. With your impressive test scores and experience in humorously interpreting real-world observations, how do you perceive the evolution of cultures over time? I'm …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 716: Neil hamburger, What? No, but Tell Me More.
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: We're talking about the type of convoy in Canada and the emergence of Nazi symbols, Confederate flags at the protest. Rick Rosner: We should explain what the trucker convoy is. A bunch of truckers and I think just a bunch of people who own trucks just by looking at the …
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: This is a recursive Crackpot test session we are recording. So you begin and end on the Crackpot test. Rick Rosner: All right, so it's well known among people who are in the physics departments at universities that it's not super rare for a lunatic to show up at the …
[Recording Start] Rick Rosner: In IC we believe that the interactions among all the particles in the universe define all the particles and the space and I guess time, just everything in the universe is an embodiment of the interactions and the history of interactions among its constituent particles. So the more particles you have …
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: For our third addendum, let's delve into the nature of anti-Semitism and similar ideologies. These often stem from a disconnection from reality, coupled with a kind of rambling incoherency. However, if the person holding these beliefs is intelligent, they might try to organize this incoherence and disconnect, especially when it's …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 712: Addendum to 709, 710, 711
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Let's add to our previous discussion. Go ahead. Rick Rosner: You've touched on something I hadn't considered: self-talk, or the internal feedback we give ourselves. For those who are mentally unwell or becoming so, the narratives in their minds play a significant role. People engage in self-talk to varying degrees. …
[Recording Start] Rick Rosner: It's important to define our terms here, specifically "coercive messaging," which can also be referred to as "normative messaging." The term 'normative' doesn't refer to what's normal per se, but rather it involves people dictating certain behaviors or actions. When someone makes a normative statement, they're essentially saying, "You should do …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 710: Defining Coercive Messaging
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Let's shift our focus to discuss coercive structures or what might be considered toxic normative structures. Rick Rosner: I wouldn't label them as toxic, rather as helpful normative structures. Jacobsen: Alright. Rosner: Here's the thing, at my age, which is 61, living in America, it's shockingly disappointing to witness a …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 709: Toxic Normative Structures
Rick Rosner 