Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Bio
Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the publisher of In-Sight Publishing (ISBN: 978-1-0692343) and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Interviews (ISSN: 2369-6885). He is a member in good standing of numerous media organizations.
Stories (121)
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Fumfer Physics 29: How the Human Mind Measures Time, Space, and Thought
In this dialogue, Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner explore the perceptual boundaries of human experience—the limits of what we can truly sense in time and space. Rosner explains that our temporal resolution hovers around a tenth of a second, the scale of reflexes and thought formation, while spatial awareness reaches down to roughly 50 microns, the threshold of the naked eye. They discuss how linguistic processing, births, and deaths occur within similar temporal slices, linking consciousness to the continuous flow of global life. The conversation ultimately frames thought as holographic—relational, dynamic, and resistant to discrete measurement.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen3 months ago in Interview
Fumfer Physics 28: Why Pi and Fibonacci Appear in Nature
Pi recurs because circular and spherical geometry minimize surface area and energy: surface tension rounds droplets; for fixed area a circle has the shortest boundary; in 3D a sphere resists stress and encloses volume efficiently. Fibonacci patterns arise from local growth rules near the golden angle (~137.5°), packing leaves and seeds without overlap. Those rules produce spiral counts that match consecutive Fibonacci numbers. Iterative branching and logarithmic spirals extend the effect across pinecones, sunflowers, shells, and more. Beneath both patterns is information shaped by constraints: simple optimization rules yield stable forms nature reuses, from eyeballs to orbits to seed heads.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen3 months ago in Interview
Fumfer Physics 27: Intuition & the Universe
Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner probe whether math is built-in or invented, and how intuition can automate physics. Rosner casts math as conceptual shorthand that scaffolds understanding—like words such as “schadenfreude”—with estimation and repetition training intuition. They argue the universe does not “calculate”; laws emerge from interacting fields, while math mirrors structure within finite information, not Platonic perfection. Subjectivity arises as a “statistically disambiguated” layer—distinct yet embedded—analogous to centrifuged strata. Skills span a continuum from embodied physics (a basketball arc) to formal tensors, converging as fluency. Information demands context; existence is a web of relations, and models refine correspondence.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen3 months ago in Interview
Fumfer Physics 26: Can We Understand the Universe Without Math?
Rick Rosner riffs on whether a civilization could grasp physics without mathematics, imagining whale societies that count heads but lack equations. He argues math is essential for precise theories, yet many core ideas—projectiles, orbits, relativity—begin as pictures and principles before formalization. Examples include Einstein’s thought experiments refined with tensor calculus, Big Bang nucleosynthesis by Alpher, Bethe, and Gamow, and Newton’s insight that orbits are continuous free-fall obeying an inverse-square law. Scott Douglas Jacobsen notes everyday intuition—throwing a ball, braking for a light—mirrors calculus. Rosner concludes: you can teach physics conceptually without equations, but doing physics ultimately requires mathematics. Precision demands symbolic tools.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen3 months ago in Interview
State, Church, and Silence: Cover-Ups within the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro. Content Warning.
By Bojan Jovanović Bojan Jovanović, a former Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) priest and now Secretary General of the Christian Alliance of Croatia, alleges widespread sexual abuse and cover-ups within the SPC, including in Montenegro. He condemns Montenegro’s decision to honor Metropolitan Amfilohije Radović, accusing him of concealing pedophilia and exploitation in monasteries such as Cetinje and Dajbabe. Jovanović cites testimonies, police files, and media investigations. He asserts that the SPC and state institutions protect abusers and suppress justice, calling their silence criminal complicity. He is cooperating with Interpol and the EU to expose an organized network of clerical sexual abuse dating back to 1978.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen3 months ago in Interview
Fumfer Physics 25: Quantum Limits, Black Holes
Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner explore informational cosmology at black-hole boundaries and beyond. Rosner notes supermassive black holes are densest from the outside, yet interior density is tempered by curved spacetime and quantum “fuzziness.” Quantum gravity candidates, exclusion principles, and phase transitions may halt true singularities, yielding ultra-dense, evolving quantum states. Stars act as leaky correlational engines; galaxies emit immense photon webs, but the most durable records likely reside in gravitational filaments. Rosner sketches “hedgehog” collapse vectors around t0, speculates galaxies can dim and relight via cosmic-web inflow, and doubts nucleation around neutron stars. Dark-matter halos endure. Conclusions remain provisional—and productively skeptical.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen3 months ago in Interview
Dan Wilson & Dave Farina vs Steve Kirsch & Pierre Kory: Who won the Pangburn “Greatest Vaccine Debate”?
Hosted by Pangburn, the “Greatest Vaccine Debate in History” pits educators Dave Farina (“Professor Dave Explains”) and Dr. Dan Wilson (“Debunk the Funk”) against entrepreneur Steve Kirsch and critical-care physician Dr. Pierre Kory. Farina and Wilson emphasize methods over anecdotes, challenging claims about vaccines causing autism, aluminum adjuvant harm, and ivermectin efficacy. They note MMR never contained thimerosal, most childhood vaccines have been thimerosal-free since 2001, and COVID-19 vaccines, though waning, reduce infection and hospitalization. They also explain VAERS cannot establish causation. With clear definitions and study-by-study analysis, Farina and Wilson present the stronger case grounded in contemporary scientific evidence.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen3 months ago in Education
Fumfer Physics 24: Neutron Stars and the Non–Black-Hole Universe
Rick Rosner explains compact objects without hype: compressing matter triggers quantum degeneracy pressure (electrons in white dwarfs, neutrons in neutron stars). When gravity exceeds these pressures—around the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit (~2–3 solar masses)—collapse forms a black hole. Dimming is due to gravitational redshift, not ‘acceleration.’ Exterior fields encode only mass, spin, and charge (“no-hair”). The information paradox’s modern view favors unitarity; black holes preserve information, though mechanisms remain debated. Crucially, the universe is not a black hole: large-scale expansion fits FLRW cosmology, with horizons from cosmic expansion, not an event horizon. Scale matters—bigger systems have gentler curvature and tidal gravity overall.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen3 months ago in Interview
South Korean Christian Abusers, Exploiters, and Frauds are Historically Common
This chronological overview traces seven decades of major crimes committed by South Korean Christian leaders, from Park Tae-seon’s 1950s fraud convictions to Jung Myung-seok’s 2025 sexual-violence sentence. It details embezzlement, fraud, tax evasion, sexual assault, and coercive control cases involving figures such as Sun Myung Moon, David Yonggi Cho, and Shin Ok-ju. The analysis links these patterns to the professional limitations of theology-only education and rigid gender expectations in conservative Christianity, suggesting that such environments may exacerbate vulnerability to corruption. It closes by urging stronger transparency, regulation, and ethical oversight within South Korea’s religious institutions.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen3 months ago in Criminal
Rabbi Debra Bennet on Jewish Life, Learning, and Building Inclusive Community at the Mid Island Y JCC
Rabbi Debra Bennet is the Director of Jewish Life & Learning at the Mid Island Y JCC in Plainview, NY. She received her rabbinic ordination in May 2007 and has previously served as the Rabbi Educator at Temple Beth Torah in Melville and as the Associate Rabbi of Temple Chaverim in Plainview, where she developed teen programming and worked to strengthen connections to Judaism and the Jewish Community. In her current role, she continues to educate and inspire her community while addressing pressing social issues, fostering dialogue and collaboration across faith traditions, and cultivating an inclusive, connected community throughout the JCC.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen3 months ago in Interview
The Soft Cruelties of Conversation: Travelogues and Emotional Safety Reflections
When you travel with someone steeped in select grievance, a gentle, loving persuasion eventually gives way to containment: kindness, limits, and exit routes — for a time. This is a short field guide from one fraught trip: how to stay humane, set boundaries, and leave without rancour when conversation turns into performance.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen4 months ago in Journal
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka Speech at CSW69: Backlash, AI, Representation
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka reflects on UN Women’s creation and warns of a growing backlash against gender equality. She argues that women’s participation strengthens democracy and economies, citing research estimating trillions in global gains. Celebrating progress since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, she urges meaningful commemoration paired with forward planning. Two priorities dominate: digital inclusion—especially women’s presence in AI knowledge-making—and representation, where women still hold only about one third of decision-making roles. She calls for solidarity across movements, protection of affirmative action, and faster action so girls and young women are not left behind as technology and power structures evolve.
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen4 months ago in History
