[rachet]

Oddly enough, Jews are encouraged to do this! We were given brains for a reason and we were also given the frameworks for making decisions about the law as technology and society changes.

Many of the decisions also require deep knowledge into the subject matter (not just the Jewish law) in order to make a ruling. To allow electric switches one would need to know all the intricacies of both Jewish law and electricity before a valid ruling could be made.

[pmiller2]

This is interesting. Although I'm an atheist and have been for pretty much my entire life, I find Judaism fascination from a cultural perspective, and I have immense respect for it as a belief system.

How exactly are Jews encouraged to "rules lawyer God?" Is it literally what you said: that God gave us brains, and he expects bus to use them? Where can I find out more about this? Is there some kind of "guide to Jewish law for goyim" I can check out?

[pugio]

I'm sorry I don't know of any particular singular resource you can check out (I know they exist, but I can't think of a good one off the top of my head), though feel free to email me and I will happily answer any question you might have.

For a small, partial start to your second question, check out this story: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oven_of_Akhnai (under the Story heading).

Note that the mystical and the magical elements of the story are often seen as the rhetorical flourishes and metaphors of the Talmud's storytelling style. The fundamental point is that even if a voice rang down from heaven declaring the law to be a certain way, a majority opinion among sages would overrule said voice. The Torah (law and teachings) was given to Jewish people, and it's now our job to interpret and wrestle with the particulars.

(I mentioned this is as a partial answer to your question, because there is a lot of nuance and further thought based on the idea. It does not, for instance, suggest an each-person-for-themself personal reinterpretation of the body of laws. It is more supporting the idea that as a society it is up to us to collectively define, refine, debate, and expand on these teachings.)