Rick Rosner: Okay, so it’s a common sentiment, shared by many, that there appears to be a higher percentage of individuals in the United States who embrace irrational beliefs than ever before. This isn’t about beliefs that later lack evidence, such as historical medical theories like humour or certain aspects of religion. Rather, it’s about …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 954: Global Aging Brains and Poor Literacy Skills
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: I want to distinguish between four points of contact: one, symbol systems; two, representation; three, mathematical principles; and four, principles of existence. When you hear those four concepts, what do they trigger for you? Rick Rosner: They trigger thoughts of more efficient ways of representing certain aspects of the world because the brain takes …
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: We talked about Reformed Judaism and Israel Jacobson in Germany. I wanted to ask the obvious question: why aren’t Orthodox Judaism or Conservative Judaism for you? Rick Rosner: Because I’m not religious, they take much time. They dominate your life. Reformed Judaism, even done right, takes maybe a couple of hours a …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 947: Why not Orthodox or Conservative Judaism?
[Recording Start] Rick Rosner: My wife just turned on a documentary about the Brat Pack. It was filmed 35 years after the Brat Pack era by one of the actors characterized as being in the Brat Pack, Andrew McCarthy. Whenever I watch anything like this, or like tonight, when Jimmy Kimmel is hosting a fundraiser for …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 946: I could have been a contender
[Recording Start] Rick Rosner: You had assigned homework for me, which I didn't complete because I took a nap. You wanted to discuss the role of God in Judaism? It's not only that, but a specific concept within a particular reform of Judaism. Scott Douglas Jacobsen: The idea involves the Hebrew word for Messiah, meaning anointed. In …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 945: Rick Rosner on Israel Jacobson and Reformed Judaism
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: I wanted to talk about the comparison and contrast between American styles of women's rights and Canadian styles, focusing on what Canadians and Americans are doing better. In my view, Canadians are probably doing better, even though the United States is a wealthier country. In the contemporary period, Canadian women …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 944: Canadian and American Women’s Progress
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, what if at the lowest level, the world, lowest magnitudes, time doesn't exist? While at the higher levels, higher magnitudes, time begins to emerge and, in fact, becomes a major factor in the general business of the universe, the general informational processing of reality. There is self-interaction between the …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 943: From the Top of the Informational Charts
[Recording Start] Rick Rosner: So, you sent me close to a dozen definitions of information as defined by various disciplines. Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Yes. Then I decided to take a broader, big-picture angle by examining the different levels of information. It fundamentally revolves around incompleteness. Our methods of understanding, such as the scientific method, rely …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 942: Information by the Definition, Boys
[Recording Start] Rick Rosner: In my novel, the main character, similar to myself, possesses a framework that, if not a complete theory of the universe, points towards one. As he ages, he increasingly treats it with casual disregard and allows it to diminish in importance. As he becomes engrossed in the minutiae of daily life, he …
[Recording Start] Rick Rosner: Somewhere there is a photo if it exists, of Tom Cruise holding my grotesque foot, because it resided at Jimmy Kimmel’s for several years, he was at a party there. Somebody made him hold the foot. I saw the photo, but I didn’t get a copy sent. Then it is resting …
Rick Rosner 