Stephen Wolfram, Founder & CEO of Wolfram Research, Computing the Cosmos (#041)

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Science, Physics, Natural Sciences

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2020

⏱️ 155 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Stephen Wolfram, Founder & CEO of Wolfram Research, Creator of Mathematica, Wolfram Alpha, Author of A New Kind of Science, discusses computational science, his new Project to Find a Fundamental Theory of Physics, and more. Over the course of 4 decades, Stephen Wolfram has pioneered the development & application of computational thinking. He has been responsible for many discoveries, inventions & innovations in science, technology, and business. In this wide-ranging interview with Brian Keating @DrBrianKeating , Wolfram discusses his decades in-the-making Wolfram Physics Project, his career, his philosophy & approach to science, his hoped-for legacy, and questions from the audience including whether mathematical beauty matter at all, or is it just falsifiability? We also discuss his books A New Kind of Science (2002), Idea Makers (2016) and Adventures of a Computational Explorer (2019). Show notes and resources available here: Topics discussed in this in-depth interview: The Impact of Computers on his life 00:12:18 Prime Numbers 00:15:25 What he thinks he’s good at doing 00:20:49 #WolframAlpha 00:21:30 The work he and his son did on creating a language for #ArrivalMovie 00:32:38:26 The first alien intelligence is really AI! 00:38:58 thoughts on #2001ASpaceOdyssey from his blog post 00:44:50 Cellular Automata & Complexity (1994) 00:54:50 Doom for the “Simulation Hypothesis” Thanks to the Physics Project 1:00:00 A New Kind of Science 01:14:54 Adventures of a Computational Explorer 02:06:39 How Steve Jobs convinced him to use ‘Mathematica’ instead of Wolfram Omega 02:32:02 Wolfram was educated at Eton, Oxford, and Caltech. He published his first scientific paper at the age of 15, and received his PhD in theoretical physics from Caltech at the age of 20. Wolfram’s early scientific work was mainly in high-energy physics, quantum field theory & cosmology. Having started to use computers in 1973, Wolfram rapidly became a leader in the emerging field of scientific computing, and in 1979 he began the construction of SMP—the first modern computer algebra system—which he released commercially in 1981. In recogn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	The only thing we can be sure of about the future is that it will be absolutely fantastic.
0:04.5	Five four, three, and six, four, three, and six, one.
0:10.5	I'm talking with Dr. Stephen Wolfram, who is I've known fortunately for me for many years.
0:18.8	I've been fortunate to receive signed copies of his books. This is one of my favorite books, which is quite an accomplishment because, you know, as a CEO, you know that there's very few CEOs who are very technically or mathematically minded and getting insight into
0:35.5	physicists and mathematicians and thinkers, philosophers from the mind of a CEO and
0:40.5	a mathematician scientist is quite refreshing.
0:43.5	So I actually work hard to learn the craft of leadership,
0:47.3	not just the craft of cosmology.
0:50.1	So I thank you for this book.
0:51.3	I recommend it very highly idea makers.
0:53.0	I'll spend a little time talking about that.
0:55.0	First I want to, we'll have your general bio. I just want to add to my listeners.
1:00.0	I have a lot of young listeners out there I have old listeners everything in between we talk about everything on this podcast from
1:07.1	physics of sports and the Olympics and krajna God to business leaders to cosmologists and everything but in between. But this is the first time I've had
1:17.2	on somebody who never got a PhD but I don't think I've ever had someone who
1:22.4	didn't get a bachelor's degree and the person who didn't get a PhD was Freeman Dyson who I know you know I knew the late Freeman Dyson and the man I'm talking to now is Dr. Stephen Wolf from, but he never got a bachelor's degree.
1:39.0	So I was saying to one of my friends, if you put the two of you guys together you get a really good physicist.
1:43.6	I mean, that's so Steve and welcome.
1:47.4	Thanks.
1:48.4	So I wanted to ask you a question just to start off that you've made many contributions to the
1:56.3	mechanics not just the theory and practice of mathematical reasoning but you've actually introduced technology that has, in my
2:06.1	estimation, I mean tell me if you agree with this, probably perform more calculations than every
	...

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