Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How do you feel about the Trump situation coming up in a month? Rick Rosner: Carole is more nervous than I am, but, you know, there are reasons for both optimism and pessimism. On one hand, most Americans oppose many of his policy goals. On the other hand, many Americans aren't paying …
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: From Bryan McFarland: Good Afternoon, I’m writing to inquire about your willingness to compare my results of the LAIT (1979) with yours as an analog for scoring the test. Despite there being evidence of the answers being leaked online in the 1990s, I can’t find them now. What’s my IQ? I honestly …
Rick Rosner: You should be aiming for people like Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton. When celebrities have projects coming out, they’re open to interviews. You’re a seasoned interviewer with an impressive track record. If celebs become part of your regular beat, you could be known as the interviewer who asks them questions that highlight their …
Rick Rosner: What made American Republicans so bad compared to broader times? How did they get so bad? And that leads to related questions: How did Democrats get this way if they did? And how did things, in general, get so bad? Are today’s Democrats akin to the Republicans of the nineties or 2000s? Has …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1202: Propaganda Models in the States and Russia
*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
*Interview conducted in October-November, 2024.* Rick Rosner: I read something interesting and assume it’s true. When you observe dogs—adorable, yes, but not particularly brilliant compared to wolves—it makes sense. I haven’t been around wolves, but they are known to be quite intelligent. The idea is that when wolves were domesticated, humans’ sense of smell weakened …
*Interview conducted October/November, 2024.* Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What’s going on with Trump’s party? Rick Rosner: Yesterday, Trump was holding another rally, and it was hot. Two people fainted. That somehow gave Trump the excuse to stop taking questions from the audience. He’d only taken four, and then he decided instead to play music. For 39 …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1158: Trump and Walz at the Time
*Interview conducted October/November, 2024.* Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, in an article in Noesis, the journal of the Mega Society years ago, you wrote an article about road rage. Do you still have it? Why is it more? Why is it less? Rick Rosner: It’s mostly less because I’m older, and not necessarily wiser, but people’s …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1157: You Can’t Have Road Rage If You Don’t Drive
*Interview conducted October/November, 2024.* Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What about 2085? Rick Rosner: In 2085, everyone will have an all-purpose robot that does everything. It’ll be like a smartphone, but with more functions—a Swiss army knife of technology. They’ll be called “Obes,” I’d guess. They’ll start as “omnibots,” then shorten to “obots,” and eventually just “obes.” …
*Interview conducted October/November, 2024.* Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Who is your favorite philosopher? Rick Rosner: That I have one? What Wittgenstein’s or Kierkegaard’s or most people’s most famous philosophers’ philosophy was, I don’t know. I can say one sentence about existentialism. I started taking a grad-level course in phenomenology when I was at CU, but I …
Rick Rosner 