[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is the reason behind extremely intelligent individuals often becoming so obsessive that it negatively impacts all other aspects of their lives? Rick Rosner: Although not a universal trait among high IQ individuals, obsession can certainly be a pitfall for some. Take Keith Rainiere, for instance, whose involvement in a …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 708: Super Duper High-IQ People
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What's the most interesting thing happening in the U.S political situation right now? Rick Rosner: All this stuff has surfaced about Trump really going to extreme lengths to hold on to the presidency using illegal means. He tried to issue some kind of order to have voting machines confiscated in …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 707: May You Live in Interesting Times
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, you're getting older, correct? Rick Rosner: We all are. I'm older, yes. Jacobsen: Okay, I mean colloquial not technical. How do your values change when you feel the sense of running out of time? Rosner: Well, I've engaged in a lot of foolishness, with a lot of that foolishness …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 706: Getting Older and Lost Time, Wasting Time
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Addendum to last session, go ahead. Rick Rosner: It's kind of known among people who know science fiction that the worlds presented in science fiction tend to like… when somebody sets a story in the future they set it way too close to now like I just happened to come …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 705: Addendum to “The Future Doesn’t Care About Us”
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Do people care about the future? If so, why? If not, why not? Rick Rosner: All right, the deal is that when politicians talk about climate change they talk about the world we're leaving for our children and grandchildren. Nobody talks about great-grandchildren or great-great-grandchildren mostly because it would be …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 704: The Future Doesn’t Care About Us
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Hypothetical or an inevitable; in either case, let's say we understand human consciousness or human awareness more directly systematically and can replicate it. What does this do to our view of ourselves also something you brought up before which is what does this do to a sort of new mysticism …
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: With evolution gaining more acceptance in America and intelligent design facing setbacks, what's your perspective on this shift towards mainstream scientific theories? Rick Rosner: Most people lack a deep education in evolution. So, even if, as you suggest, a majority now believe in evolution, their understanding is likely superficial. You, …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 702: Evolution, Human Intention, Co-Opted
[Recording Start] Rick Rosner: It's akin to programming a robot, like an AI on a satellite launched out of the solar system, to be content with its eventual degradation over millions of years. Ethically, you’d want this AI, which is managing the satellite, to be highly intelligent and at peace with its slow extinction as …
[Recording Start] Rick Rosner: Increasingly insane conservative who likes to equate gender reassignment surgery which very few people have as a percentage; bottom surgery. A lot of people have top surgery and a lot of people who aren't doing gender reassignment have top surgery. I mean a lot of people get their boobs messed with …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 700: Gender Reassigned Politics and Ethics
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: The golden rule suggests a false universal desire, implying that everyone wants exactly the same things, rather than a statistical approximation of similar desires. Rick Rosner: To clarify, the golden rule is to treat others as you would like to be treated. Jacobsen: That rule has its flaws. There's another …
Rick Rosner 