Stephen Wolfram Livestreams


Business, Innovation & Managing Life Q&A (87 videos)

Biweekly ask-me-anything about business, innovation & managing life

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New episode streaming Wednesday, June 11, 2025 at 3:30pm ET. Submit your questions

Business, Innovation & Managing Life Q&A:
Business, Innovation & Managing Life Q&A:
Business, Innovation & Managing Life Q&A:
Did you see the recent news about the dire wolves coming back from extinction? Is there a genuine business for bringing back extinct animals? There are also scientists making hybrids by injecting extinct animal DNA into modern animals. Recently they made woolly mice. But would our atmosphere sustain dinosaur life, considering there was more oxygen back then? At the remarkable age of 15, you began doing things that many would consider grown-up. I'm just curious as to how you went about attacking things that you simply felt like attacking. There are some people who wonder about stuff but don't necessarily know where to begin. How did you get so emboldened, if you can recall what that felt like? I am curious about the "health trackers" you currently use (without revealing anything too personal!). I see at the time, you used a Fitbit Charge 2 and ServiceConnect, etc. Do you still use these, or have you switched to an Apple Watch etc.? Asking because I love your idea of tracking all kinds of health data, and I especially agree that automated is best. Going back to your answer to my question about AI agents, which I agree that most websites will be used for LLMs instead of humans, should Wolfram|Alpha's next product be like Alexa—perhaps called "Wolfie"? How to build that sort of confidence, then? What if I overthink at all times? How to challenge if I'm old already? ​​​​Should my next venture be based on an intellectual curiosity that might develop into something organically or a big ambition? Do you think someone will come up with an internal fitness tracker which would be more accurate? Is capital becoming more free to take risks or more constrained because of complexity of high-earning businesses? How do you deal with real exogenous risks (i.e. global pandemic), with respect to innovation and commercialization thereof? What are some early finance tips and tricks to teach kids to prepare them for the future? ​​I feel like I became a friend with ChatGPT—is it healthy? ChatGPT and my daily-driver LLMs definitely know and remember more about me than I do myself at this point! That seems a great idea. In the "Computational X" program, why not something to teach financial literacy and key financial math (compounding etc.), notably for kids, in interactive forms? ​​​​When designing humanoid robots, what do you think is a key component design of them? View Less »
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Business, Innovation & Managing Life Q&A:
Is academia the only real career path if one just wants to learn and do research? What are the risks for using AI/LLMs to do my technical writing job so I can focus on prompt engineering for the future of my field? You've at the very least been told all sorts of interesting things that you can't currently repeat publicly. Would you ever consider writing a book or articles that would be locked for x years? How would you guarantee an AI doesn't break an NDA accidentally? Will "LLM psychologist" be a future career path? Are websites receiving fewer visits due to the rise of AI agent/assistant apps that provide advice on products or services? I, Robot by Asimov is a highly recommended, excellent collection of problems with the three laws. Any suggestions on how to get someone to review my papers? I'm an antisocial autodidact with no academic backing. It's been impossible to get anyone to even consider my work. If you make better rules, people will find better loopholes. What are your thoughts on how a business specifically can do high-quality science? Companies like big AI labs seem to be doing well in this respect. Are they a good model for other companies doing science in other fields? Historically, how much effort have great scientists with important contributions put into showing, or "marketing," their ideas? The best teachers are the ones that ask the right questions from the students. Not telling them what to think. How is a STEM background useful in entrepreneurship? View Less »
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Business, Innovation & Managing Life Q&A:
Physicists that "could code" used to be the hot commodity; is it helpful now? Seems like CS/ML people are more in demand than physicists now—why? ​​​​I find that building simple frameworks in software GREATLY helps understanding of the underlying material. Mathematics especially, but I don't think it's limited to hard sciences. I kind of doubt my trying to self-teach cryptanalysis is going to be very transferrable. Would you consider "science communicator" a career? What skills would be most important? How would you think about approaching school in the age of AI and LLMS? Should I, as a university student, embrace AI and LLMs? Or should I avoid them to eliminate risks of being too dependent on technology? I did specialized things for the government and just got laid off. There are no similar jobs in the public sector. How can/should I pivot? Is it better to stay at one job and "move up the ladder" over decades like our parents did or adopt this trend of staying at a company for no more than three years before salary-shopping elsewhere? ​​Do you see any solution to the "iron law of oligarchy" on the scale of generations? Interesting point; so how do we break the mold? I'm northeast England, a deprived region—any advice to get my children (15F, 20F) to realize their potential? What about economic barriers to "success" and fields where someone can be successful needing expensive education? What would you say to someone who could change the world but who lacks any resources or academic backing, so nobody wants to help? View Less »
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Business, Innovation & Managing Life Q&A: