Ask A Genius 1555: Trump’s Sliding Polls and Shutdown Fallout

Scott Douglas Jacobsen presses Rick Rosner on why Donald Trump’s approval is deflating amid cost of living strain, tariffs, and a long federal shutdown. Rosner, who places tiny prediction bets, expects support to hover in the low forties. He argues Trump’s chaos distracts from policy failures, with inflation near three percent and looming insurance hikes hurting households. He criticizes ICE’s accountability and leadership, citing broader abuses of power. On Wole Soyinka’s visa, he decries political vindictiveness. Addressing elevated stillbirths, he points to COVID’s long tail, deferred care from affordability barriers, and persistent racial inequities in maternal and infant health outcomes.

Ask A Genius 1467: Trump–Epstein: A Scandal Damaging Trump’s Credibility

Rick Rosner addresses the Trump–Epstein scandal, highlighting Trump’s hypocrisy in promising to expose Epstein’s associates while allegedly being implicated himself. Rosner criticizes Trump’s character, suggesting his involvement might significantly harm his political support. Epstein’s alleged blackmail tactics and Trump’s potential predatory behavior underline the gravity of this controversy.

Ask A Genius 1436: Nuclear Ambiguity, Global Instability, and the Risk of Miscalculation: Uranium, Warheads, and AI

Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner explore Iran’s uranium enrichment, nuclear weapons technology, Cold War infrastructure, and the precarious nature of deterrence. The discussion connects historical context, personal experience, and AI ethics with the global risks of nuclear ambiguity, accidental or deliberate launch, and destabilizing power shifts in future governance.

Ask A Genius 1240: Constructs with Contructed Feelings

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How can you construct feelings into robots if that can be done? Rick Rosner: Well, an editorial in the LA Times this morning asked, "Are you going to be mean to your phone when it has emotions?" It suggested that phones might have emotions within the next 10 years. That's plausible. I forget exactly …

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Ask A Genius 1238: The Odious Gilded Age with Electric Cars and Nike Sneakers

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Are American billionaires and political elites becoming more odious or less odious? Rick Rosner: It depends on your time frame. For one thing, we didn't always have billionaires. But if you're talking about the top one-hundredth of one percent of Americans, your time frame is a century, 50 years, or even 70 …

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Ask A Genius 1216: Hollywood Press

Rick Rosner: Also, it would help if you got into interviewing more high-profile celebrities—, the People Magazine type. You've already done thousands of interviews with hundreds of people. Have you ever counted how many people you've interviewed? It's probably at least 500. It would help if you interviewed some big-name celebrities because it's fun, and …

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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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