Rick Rosner: Is this a new one? Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Yes, it is a new one. Alright, so you sent me an article about the average number of children per woman in South Korea dropping to 0.72, whereas the replacement rate is approximately 2.1. That means one replacement child for every couple, plus a bit …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 964: South Korea and Its Reproductive Emergency
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: This is session three of “Ask Scott Anything.” Rick Rosner: You listed eight topics that we could discuss, including the various jobs you’ve had. I think both of us have had a diverse range of jobs. We know you’ve worked with horses, done extensive writing for different sites and publishers, and worked …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 963: Ask Scott Anything, Session 3
Rick Rosner: So when did you start doing and posting journalism? Scott Douglas Jacobsen: I put In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal together on August 2nd, 2012, and then the publishing house informally, which it still is to the present, in 2014. Rosner: So, almost 12 years, approximately. Jacobsen: When doing interviews, I remember I was in the psychology department at Kwantlen, where …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 962: Ask Scott Anything, Session 2
[Recording Start] Rick Rosner: Right, so you just showed me a clip from the roast of Joan Rivers featuring Gilbert Gottfried, where he describes in great, flowery detail what it is like to have sex with Joan Rivers. It was all made up, but it went on for a long time. I've seen him perform …
[Recording Start] Rick Rosner: We are 99 days away from the 2022 midterm elections in America, which hold comparable importance to the 2020 election that was pivotal in removing Trump from office. The current political climate remains tense, with Trumpian forces still active. If Republicans gain control of both the House and the Senate, they …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 772: 99 Days from the Mid-Term Elections
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: This is on the Turing test. Go ahead. Rick Rosner: So I mentioned I wanted to talk about the Turing test and we did get around to it but you did tell me you read Hawkins’s paper on it. You told me to read it and I didn't get around …
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: This is the other topic of consciousness. Go ahead. Rick Rosner: All right. We know that existence is inevitable because the rules of existence, the rules that prohibit certain kinds of existence, particularly contradictory existence aren't all encompassing enough to stop existence. We've postulated that anything that can exist does …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 770: Consciousness and the Rules of Existence
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: You wanted to talk about consciousness in two different kinds of contexts. What do you think about it? Rick Rosner: All right. So, I just got done talking about our hopelessly divided country which includes a third of the country being persuaded to believe that any fertilized human egg deserves …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 769: Hopelessly Divided Consciousness
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Richard Feynman – “The Nature's imagination far surpasses our own.” Rick Rosner: Yeah, scientists especially scientists who become quotable by being recognized as great scientists have lots of aphorisms. Sometimes you can appreciate them as themselves. Einstein talked about ‘God doesn't play dice with the universe’, ‘If this Theory isn't …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 768: Another Richard Feynman Quote
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: A Richard Feynman quote. This is from The Character of Physical Law, 1965, chapter one: the law of gravitation, page 15. “This is the key of modern science and is the beginning of the true understanding of nature– this idea that to look at the thing, to record the details, …
Rick Rosner 