Rick Rosner talks about James Comey's cryptic "86 47" tweet sparked backlash, with critics accusing him of inciting violence against Trump. Experts argue the phrase more likely implies political rejection. The controversy echoes past misjudgments by Comey and others, as media attention shifts from substantive issues like Republican tax proposals.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen interviews Rick Rosner in a wide-ranging conversation starting with swear words and diving into utilitarianism, longtermism, effective altruism, AI ethics, simulated consciousness, moral uncertainty, and capitalism. Rosner critiques modern frameworks, explores future consciousness, and calls for ethical clarity amid rapid technological change.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner discuss the future of physics in the age of artificial intelligence. They explore how AI might challenge the Big Bang theory, synthesize new models of the universe, and employ both brute-force and poetic reasoning to redefine cosmology in ways beyond current human capacity.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner discuss Berlin’s controversial AI-operated “cyberbrothel,” raising urgent ethical questions about consent, violence, and societal norms. They explore future scenarios involving conscious AI sex robots, examine agency and emergent personhood, and reflect on humanity’s diminishing ethical control as AI intelligence accelerates beyond human comprehension.
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 …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1240: Constructs with Contructed Feelings
Rick Rosner: I do believe in magnetic personalities, though, because I live in a town of schmoozers. Do you know what a schmoozer is? Jacobsen: Yes. Someone who basically kisses up—a kind of social smooth-talker. Rosner: It’s Yiddish. Jacobsen: I wasn’t sure if it was in the general non-Jewish lexicon. Rosner: It is. My stepdad …
*Interview conducted in October-November, 2024.* Rick Rosner: So, we were talking about people being glued to their phones. I’m not sure if it’s as bad in semi-rural Canada as it is in L.A., or in places like Hong Kong. Carole and I were in Hong Kong 30 years ago. Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What was that …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1172: The Big Arc of Technological Integration
*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 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 …
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What’s the weirdest physics fact that you find interesting? Rick Rosner: The thing I find most consistently weird in physics is how you can make objects float in mid-air in a superconductor field or a magnetic field. That floating effect—where something just hovers—if you wanted to show someone how strange physics can …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1120: Weird Physics of the World
Rick Rosner 