"This raises questions about pressures that first cause extinctions but also push some organisms—especially those with greater behavioral flexibility—toward rapid adaptation. In the fossil record there have been five major mass extinctions; today’s human-driven biodiversity decline is widely described as an ongoing sixth mass extinction. The Chicxulub asteroid impact about 66 million years ago eliminated roughly three-quarters of species, not ninety percent."
Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen discuss bargain housing from the Oklahoma Panhandle to Raton and St. Louis, contrasting sub-$100k fixers with Los Angeles’s high per-square-foot prices. Rosner explains credit card arbitrage —rolling 0% balance transfers, modest fees, and HELOC backups —while warning about post-teaser rates near 19%. They shift to media’s future as TV, games, VR, and AR converge, with AI generating personalized, believable content—think Is It Cake? Realism on demand. Rosner notes rising debt, stagnant wages, and how apps raise dating standards and shrink connections. Jacobsen frames a culture of immersive “second lives” monetized through subscriptions within favourite franchises.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Did you ever watch The Lord of the Rings? Rick Rosner: Parts of it—it puts me to sleep. Superhero movies do the same thing. I fall asleep for about an hour and 20 minutes, sleep for 10 minutes, and wake up refreshed, but still not caring about what I missed. It's even …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1235: The Lord of the Rings and PodTV
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 …
Rick Rosner: So, I know the election was a bummer. Many people, mostly liberals, think Trump will be even worse and more unrestrained this time around. Carol is nervous that the country will become unlivable for us, possibly due to all the critical things I said about Trump on Twitter. She’s been actively researching how …
*Interview conducted in November, 2024.* Rick Rosner: So, here’s a story from high school. In high school, my friends Lon and Dave were cooler than me. They were good-looking guys—so good-looking, in fact, that one of them has a daughter who grew up to become a fairly major movie star. So, in high school, I …
*Interview conducted in November, 2024.* Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What is your advice for Hollywood life? Rick Rosner: One piece of advice is act less. Don’t move your arms around a lot. Don’t show an excessive amount of emotion. Say your lines with just a hint of the emotion you think is appropriate or what the …
*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 …
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, you have had opportunities to gain fame. Rick Rosner: Yes, I have done four pilots centered on either myself as a smart person or involving other people as well. None of these pilots have been successful, which is not unusual, but it is frustrating. I have a significant number …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 936: Opportunities for the Fabled Fame
[Recording Start] Scott Douglas Jacobsen: There it is. So we are back after a while. I wanted to cover a little bit about the colossal amount of work over a decade or more, in fact, more than a decade, doing a lot of the independent journalistic work that I've done. I typically pick a topic, and …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 935: Mathematicizing Our Collaborations
Rick Rosner 