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We’ve got a science opportunity overload: Launching the Wolfram Institute

writings.stephenwolfram.com

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Re: We’ve got a science opportunity overload: Launching the Wolfram Institute

#41

Post by anyfactor »

perihelions wrote: post #6
WheelsAtLarge wrote: post #2

It's kind of sad for me. I read and read but could not get the gist of the institute. Can someone write a summary?

If you scroll down a bit, I think the 26th paragraph comes closest to lucidity: - "What will the Wolfram Institute be like? There’ll be a leadership core, which, yes, I’m signing up to head. But the main meat of the institute will be a collection of researchers and fellows, working on particular, managed projects—together with students at multiple levels from high school to graduate school. We’ll be doing open scienc…

This sounds like it was written by a business school undergrad student who regrets not choosing a STEM major and is a subscriber to Lex Fridman, 2 minute paper, veritesium....and now they want to "disrupt" the world with AI research.

Re: We’ve got a science opportunity overload: Launching the Wolfram Institute

#42

Post by robotresearcher »

tmsh wrote: post #23

Out of the thousand amazing breakthroughs in the history of science or mathematics I can think of zero that said they were in the text itself. Show not tell.

“It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.”

Watson and Crick’s one sentence paragraph towards the end of their 1.5-page paper on the structure of DNA, that explained the mechanism of heredity and thus evolution in living things, and won them a Nobel Prize.

These guys didn’t take the opportunity to share the glory with Franklin that they should have, but they sure did render a wonderfully genteel understatement of the import of their work.

Re: We’ve got a science opportunity overload: Launching the Wolfram Institute

#43

Post by aero-glide2 »

aj7 wrote: post #28

I’ve had more downvotes sharing my opinions about cellular automata on HN than on any other topic, so I won’t make any here. Rather, I’d like to point out that I personally have not seen a single theory, not a single piece of a theory, known to be productive in explaining experimental data, recast with underlying cellular automata theory. If I am simply showing my ignorance, please enlighten me. Meanwhile, the clock…

I think it's a good thing to have a small percentage of scientists working on whacky theories, one of them might turn out to be true.

Re: We’ve got a science opportunity overload: Launching the Wolfram Institute

#44

Post by stillblue »

anyfactor wrote: post #41
perihelions wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you scroll down a bit, I think the 26th paragraph comes closest to lucidity: - "What will the Wolfram Institute be like? There’ll be a leadership core, which, yes, I’m signing up to head. But the main meat of the institute will be a collection of researchers and fellows, working on particular, managed projects—together with students at multiple levels from high school to graduate school. We’ll be doing open scienc…

This sounds like it was written by a business school undergrad student who regrets not choosing a STEM major and is a subscriber to Lex Fridman, 2 minute paper, veritesium....and now they want to "disrupt" the world with AI research.

hahahahaha. I needed this today!

Re: We’ve got a science opportunity overload: Launching the Wolfram Institute

#46

Post by hyperpallium2 »

syats wrote: post #13

Let us concede that in the last 20 years, the number of mentions of "I" in his writing has decreased, and there are more mentions of "We". As much as a cellular automata, and computation in general, fan as I am, and after having read a fair amount of his work... I am still not convinced that Wolfram is not just a rich crack pot.

Is he a genius or a crackpot? Yes.

Re: We’ve got a science opportunity overload: Launching the Wolfram Institute

#47

Post by ALittleLight »

aero-glide2 wrote: post #43
aj7 wrote: post #28

I’ve had more downvotes sharing my opinions about cellular automata on HN than on any other topic, so I won’t make any here. Rather, I’d like to point out that I personally have not seen a single theory, not a single piece of a theory, known to be productive in explaining experimental data, recast with underlying cellular automata theory. If I am simply showing my ignorance, please enlighten me. Meanwhile, the clock…

I think it's a good thing to have a small percentage of scientists working on whacky theories, one of them might turn out to be true.

Plus it's not like Wolfram is taking resources away from other scientists as he is funded from his company. If Wolfram wasn't doing this he'd be CEO'ing his company, there's no cost to the public for Wolfram exploring this and potentially huge gains - though unlikely.

Re: We’ve got a science opportunity overload: Launching the Wolfram Institute

#48

Post by bmc7505 »

It must feel terribly vindicating to be shunned by IAS for pursuing unpopular research, ridiculed by your intellectual heroes for lacking social graces, branded a charlatan your entire professional career by the academic establishment despite running a profitable company for over three decades, then funding a rival institute to pursue the original research you had set out to do 40 years ago.

Re: We’ve got a science opportunity overload: Launching the Wolfram Institute

#49

Post by a_bonobo »

ALittleLight wrote: post #47
aero-glide2 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's a good thing to have a small percentage of scientists working on whacky theories, one of them might turn out to be true.

Plus it's not like Wolfram is taking resources away from other scientists as he is funded from his company. If Wolfram wasn't doing this he'd be CEO'ing his company, there's no cost to the public for Wolfram exploring this and potentially huge gains - though unlikely.

There could be an opportunity costs, researchers working on this could be working on a different problem. Unlikely, but not impossible.

Re: We’ve got a science opportunity overload: Launching the Wolfram Institute

#50

Post by Pilottwave »

Lots of comments about his "arrogance" but i just see someone passionate, judge for yourself!

He has three long interviews on Lex Fridmans youtube channel! I greatly enjoyed watching those those.

1:[Stephen Wolfram: Cellular Automata, Computation, and Physics](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez773teNFYA)

2:[Stephen Wolfram: Fundamental Theory of Physics, Life, and the Universe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t1_ffaFXao)

3: [Stephen Wolfram: Complexity and the Fabric of Reality ](https://youtu.be/4-SGpEInX_c)

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