Business, Innovation & Managing Life Q&A: Stephen Wolfram Livestreams

Business, Innovation & Managing Life Q&A:

Business, Innovation and Managing Life (October 12, 2022) »

1 hour 25 minutes

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How much time do you spend on building Wolfram Language vs. doing research on the Physics Project? And what are the pros and cons of doing both things? When working on something new, how do you know if you're making progress? Have you had stretches of time when you were exploring something, but it turned out that you weren't making much progress? How do you choose whether to throw a project in the trash or not? Sometimes you invest so much of yourself in something that it feels just impossible to do so. What tools, practices and/or policies can be implemented to mitigate the effects of reduced attention span and memory from social media use (and short-form content in general)? When you code, do you apply a test-driven design approach, or do you enjoy a more exploratory approach? What's "a day in the life of Stephen Wolfram" look like these days? With so much email, how do you bucket your email? Have you been running it through a rules engine of your own design? Why do so many companies prove such easy targets for hackers? Is robust security really so hard? Any future interviews of any public physicists, mathematicians, etc. coming soon? Do you take notes of things you learn? What's the system that you use for managing new information (when researching or learning new things)? What is your opinion on solo work vs. group work and how it impacts the legacy of a product that has tangible and intangible business products? How do you identify great developers? Do you test developers, be that with code or psychometrics, as part of the hiring process, or do you prefer to rely on conversation? Any philosophy book or article you recommend reading? View Less »

Business, Innovation & Managing Life Q&A:

Business, Innovation and Managing Life (September 28, 2022) »

1 hour 29 minutes

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Have you ever owned a pet? Is there any animal you've ever wanted as a pet, even if it wasn't a typical one, like a Komodo dragon? Fall weather is here! Is there a season or time of year where you are more/less productive as an effect of the weather? I went swimming today—about 100x better than walking. I've only come across one joke in the Wolfram Language documentation, but I did find it quite funny and in good taste. Based on context, I think Jonathan Gorard wrote it. What do you make of this? What is your history with/view on science fiction (books, movies, etc.)? How important it is to save money vs. to spend it? How do you understand on what things it is worth spending money? Well, I quit smoking, so I'm using that money on the lottery instead. When is a technology mature enough to be "trusted" (i.e. autonomous driving)? What are your views on making very powerful and trained open-source AI models like Stable Diffusion illegal vs. allowing them to exist? "OpenAI" or open-source AI? How do you feel about making your email address public as a famous person? How did you originally generate funding to start your company? How do you choose whether to throw a project in the trash or not? Sometimes you invest so much of yourself in something that it just feels impossible to do so. What are general tips you have as far as educating people? View Less »

Business, Innovation & Managing Life Q&A:

Business, Innovation and Managing Life (September 14, 2022) »

1 hour 4 minutes

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What's your rule of thumb for launching a product (for yourself and for others)? Minimum viable product? Quantum of utility? Other? How did you deal with the boring aspects of developing a product (e.g. marketing, sales) when you didn't have people to delegate to? Would the academic environment be a place where a researcher and inventor could pursue their own research, or at least make some profit from developing patents and designs? I am in the US, just about to start a master's, and am considering starting a PhD in materials science. How do you think Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) will evolve as candidates increasingly try to "trick" them by using keywords in their resumes? View Less »

Business, Innovation & Managing Life Q&A:

Business, Innovation and Managing Life (August 31, 2022) »

1 hour 28 minutes

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Stephen knows and remembers so much! Any hints on memory techniques and how to learn in general, and especially in math and physics as an adult? What do you think of shifts in perspective as a source of discoveries in science? Is there any place for discoveries based on questioning the status quo? Of the smartest people you have had a chance to communicate with, who stands out the most and why? How do you spend money in a wise way? Do you have some heuristics? What technology would you keep away from your children, and for how long? What might be the best investment opportunities over the next 20 years? Someone said if you hear good reviews of your product from other people, then you have succeeded. If you don't hear any feedback from others, that is usually a bad sign. You mentioned investing in ideas. What is your metric for investing in an individual with an idea? For instance, are the Wolfram Winter and Summer Schools places for you to find those people to invest in? Is there any technological innovation that you are anticipating or hoping is coming in the next few years? What was it like handling the business side of things, being a creator? Was it something you liked or just did out of necessity? Was it hard or easy? Did you do it all yourself, get help or just hire someone else more savvy and in the know to do it entirely? What are techniques for developing intuition, in particular when working with really abstract concepts like those found in math, physics or even business? View Less »

Business, Innovation & Managing Life Q&A:

Business, Innovation and Managing Life (August 17, 2022) »

1 hour 19 minutes

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I am writing a long-form article about James Lovelock, who was unusual in that he was an independent scientist. It struck me that you count as one too, and I wondered if you had ever blogged about the upside or downside of not being part of the scientific establishment? What is the artifact behind you? It looks like something one might use to trap a mouse. Have you ever focused "too much," such that the focus was detrimental to your work? So you are on an island? I have been looking for an isolated island with limited tourists to spend some stress-free time. They are hard to find! Any tips for building a remote software company, and how to maintain company culture when everyone is working from home? From a business point of view, how do you make the jump to working on highly technical projects that have long development times and higher costs? Hypothetically, if one had the opportunity and means to pursue a completely different avenue in life even though it was not one's formal field of study... Thoughts on big life changes? Any interesting discussion of the history of the whaling business? Sorry for a bit of a silly question, but you seem to like to use a light theme as opposed to a dark theme on your computer. Does it have any effect on your eyes in the long run? How much time do you spend each day on your phone? If you had to spend one year without computers, what would you do? I'm still waiting for phones that can do projection on the wall with a keyboard touchscreen with light detectors. Did you learn anything useful during your brief time as a consultant? If you could go back in time with your laptop running Mathematica, who would you show it to? Euler? Bernoulli? Newton? Others? A discussion between Ada Lovelace and Alan Turing would be interesting. You need to write this fiction, even if it's just blogged in chunks. View Less »

Business, Innovation & Managing Life Q&A:

Business, Innovation and Managing Life (August 3, 2022) »

1 hour 20 minutes

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In science, when is it preferable to self-publish rather than go through academic journals? What place do you see for competitive behavior (especially in respect to the paper/citation system) in science? What do you think would be a good replacement for peer review? Have you ever considered working in finance instead of physics? Many very smart people work for trading companies (such as RenTech/Jane Street) for a couple years. I sometimes think we waste some of our brightest minds on "making money." Could we somehow "shift" the market demand for technology that highly favors intellectual advancement in ideas sufficiently so that these "analytically bright" people are interested in scientific progression? How do you "decide" to direct your behavior when faced with aggression in tense meetings? Is it possible for low-level employees to prove themselves by solving complex problems in an operation despite lacking the typical formal qualifications of education, but nevertheless being promoted? One of the best docs for technical computing comes from Wolfram. Is there any general philosophy in Wolfram on balancing technical and business-oriented documentation that generates leads? What advice would you have for someone who wants to pursue some academic field that's a bit unorthodox—like, say, your kind of physics—as a graduate student? What I've been told is to save that for when you become a tenured professor (if ever). Is there a way to contribute to science without a college degree? Humans were scientists for a long time before there were college degrees (let alone colleges). View Less »

Stephen Wolfram Livestreams

Business, Innovation & Managing Life Q&A (78 videos)