Ask A Genius 1493: Scientific Luck, Privilege, and Peril: From Newton’s Miracles to RFK Jr.’s Anti-Vaccine Damage

Scientific breakthroughs have often depended on timing, privilege, or sheer luck. From Alexander Fleming’s accidental discovery of penicillin to Isaac Newton’s plague-era “miracle year,” history shows that chance favors the prepared mind. Yet, privilege—like that of Prince Louis de Broglie or Tycho Brahe—also played a decisive role. In stark contrast, today’s scientific progress is undermined not by fortune but by politics and misinformation. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, has advanced anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, opposed germ theory, and fueled deadly consequences, from Samoa’s measles deaths to threats against cancer vaccine research.

Ask A Genius 1476: Human Features and Flaws: Evolutionary Strengths, Brain Bugs, and Big-Data Limits

Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner examine human strengths like abstract thinking, endurance, and reproductive success, alongside evolutionary flaws—such as brain vulnerabilities, adrenal overactivation, and limited big-data capacity. They explore how modern life misaligns with our biology, creating stress and irrationality, while AI emerges as our likely cognitive successor.

Ask A Genius 1469: Eleven-Day COVID Experience: Paxlovid, Vaccination, Long-Term Risks, and Endemic Trends

Rick Rosner, fully vaccinated and on Paxlovid, describes his eleven-day COVID bout: negative Tuesday, positive again Sunday, mild symptoms, and fear of long-term effects, ongoing spread. He’s cut exercise 20%, avoided severe disease risk through vaccination, and highlights endemic COVID patterns, immunity levels, variant naming shifts, and data access challenges.

Ask A Genius 1466: Rick Rosner’s Experience with COVID After 5.5 Years Avoiding Infection

Rick Rosner shares his experience catching COVID after successfully avoiding it for over five years. Symptoms were mild, mainly a sore throat, possibly due to recent vaccination. He discusses Paxlovid’s benefits and side effects, precautions he’s taking, including reduced exercise intensity, and his hope for minimal long-term effects on cognition.

Ask A Genius 1368: From Playground Racism to Nuclear-Free Zones: America’s Shifting Cultural and Moral Landscapes

Scott Douglas Jacobsen interviews Rick Rosner about the nature of therapy, particularly couples counseling. Rosner shares his extensive experience in therapy, noting the importance of unbiased therapists. He reflects on the complexity of discussing current events, like the Israel-Palestine conflict, within therapeutic environments, recognizing the emotional weight it carries for many, including American Jews. Rosner expresses frustration over politicization in counseling and stresses the need for impartiality. He relates this dynamic to personal communication challenges with his wife, emphasizing the role of therapy in fostering constructive dialogue about personal and external issues, including political tensions, without ideological bias.

Ask A Genius 1237: Tripartite Religion of the H-1B

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Do you think Twitter has been devolving since Musk took it over? Rick Rosner: It has. Twitter went downhill after Musk bought it. What, three years ago? It used to be where I followed hundreds of comedians and saw hundreds of jokes daily. It was fun and less political. When Musk came …

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Ask A Genius 1214: Apple Carts and AI Coaxing Humanity’s Wills

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Any homework related to generating great topics is fine. You had an idea involving “apple carts.” What do you mean by “apple carts” here? Rick Rosner: Well, there is a range of opinions about AI—some are optimistic, some are pessimistic. Those on the pessimistic side are sometimes called “doomers” because they think …

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Ask A Genius 1213: The Murder of Brian Thompson

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: A few days ago, Brian Thompson, a 50-year-old CEO of UnitedHealth Group (the parent company of UnitedHealthcare), was fatally shot in New York City. Reports suggest the shooter took a bus to the city and waited for 10 days, apparently targeting Thompson, who was there to speak at an investors' conference.  Rick …

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