#89 – Stephen Wolfram: Cellular Automata, Computation, and Physics
Lex Fridman Podcast
Lex Fridman
4.7 • 13.6K Ratings
🗓️ 18 April 2020
⏱️ 192 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Stephen Wolfram is a computer scientist, mathematician, and theoretical physicist who is the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research, a company behind Mathematica, Wolfram Alpha, Wolfram Language, and the new Wolfram Physics project. He is the author of several books including A New Kind of Science, which on a personal note was one of the most influential books in my journey in computer science and artificial intelligence.
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EPISODE LINKS:
Stephen’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephen_wolfram
Stephen’s Website: https://www.stephenwolfram.com/
Wolfram Research Twitter: https://twitter.com/WolframResearch
Wolfram Research YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WolframResearch
Wolfram Research Website: https://www.wolfram.com/
Wolfram Alpha: https://www.wolframalpha.com/
A New Kind of Science (book): https://amzn.to/34JruB2
This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/ai or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or support it on Patreon.
Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
OUTLINE:
00:00 – Introduction
04:16 – Communicating with an alien intelligence
12:11 – Monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey
29:06 – What is computation?
44:54 – Physics emerging from computation
1:14:10 – Simulation
1:19:23 – Fundamental theory of physics
1:28:01 – Richard Feynman
1:39:57 – Role of ego in science
1:47:21 – Cellular automata
2:15:08 – Wolfram language
2:55:14 – What is intelligence?
2:57:47 – Consciousness
3:02:36 – Mortality
3:05:47 – Meaning of life
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following is a conversation with Stephen Wolfram, a computer scientist, mathematician, |
| 0:04.5 | and theoretical physicist who is the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research, a company behind |
| 0:10.5 | Mathematica, Wolfram Alpha, Wolfram Language, and the new Wolfram Physics project. |
| 0:16.1 | He is the author of several books including a new kind of science, which, on a personal note, |
| 0:22.4 | was one of the most influential books in my journey in computer science and artificial intelligence. |
| 0:28.7 | It made me fall in love with the mathematical beauty and power of cellular automata. |
| 0:34.4 | It is true that perhaps one of the criticisms of Stephen is at a human level, that he has a big |
| 0:40.9 | ego, which prevents some researchers from fully enjoying the content of his ideas. |
| 0:46.0 | We talk about this point in this conversation. To me, ego can lead your stray, but can also be a |
| 0:52.5 | superpower, one that fuels bold, innovative thinking that refuses to surrender to the cautious |
| 0:59.0 | ways of academic institutions. And here, especially, I ask you to join me in looking past the |
| 1:05.8 | peculiarities of human nature and opening your mind to the beauty of ideas and Stephen's work |
| 1:12.0 | and in this conversation. I believe Stephen Wolfram is one of the most original minds of our time, |
| 1:18.5 | and at the core is a kind, curious, and brilliant human being. This conversation was recorded in |
| 1:24.5 | November 2019, when the Wolfram Physics project was underway, but not yet ready for public |
| 1:30.2 | exploration as it is now. We now agree to talk again, probably multiple times in the near future, |
| 1:36.8 | so this is round one, and stay tuned for round two soon. |
| 1:41.6 | This is the Artificial Intelligence Podcast. If you enjoy it, subscribe by YouTube, |
| 1:46.0 | review it with five stars and Apple podcasts, supporting on Patreon are simply connected |
| 1:50.0 | with me on Twitter, and Lex Friedman spelled F-R-I-D-M-A-N. As usual, I'll do a few minutes of ads now |
| 1:57.2 | and never any ads in the middle that can break the flow of the conversation. I hope that works for |
| 2:01.5 | you, and doesn't hurt the listening experience. Quick summary of the ads. Two sponsors, ExpressVPN |
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