Stephen Wolfram Livestreams

History of Science & Technology Q&A (83 videos)

Biweekly ask-me-anything about the history of science & technology

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History of Science & Technology Q&A:
History of Science and Technology Q&A (March 23, 2022) »

1 hour 18 minutes

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​​What happened with the computer during WWII? ​​The ​Imitation Game is a great movie about computers in World War 2. ​​How important are Nobel Prizes? Are there any scandalous omissions? ​​ ​It is taxable income. ​​Some of the physics prizes have been a bit random. Penzias and Wilson more or less accidentally discovered the CMB, but Gamov predicted it and got nothing (I think). ​​ Thank you for encouraging our curiosity. My question is: When and why did apprenticeships end? It seems all the greats, such as Benjamin Franklin, were sent to be apprentices. ​​ What happened to the interdisciplinary science of the Renaissance? Do the efficiency gains of specialization outweigh the harms of institutional departmentalization? ​​Are crazy ideas useful to talk about, or are they only good for guiding intuition in research? View Less »
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History of Science & Technology Q&A:
History of Science and Technology Q&A (March 9, 2022) »

1 hour 31 minutes

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​​What is the history of "infinity" in mathematics, or in science in general? I would like to see a differentiation between eternity and infinity. ​Can you talk about the history of the "elementary length"? What have people believed to be the smallest possible length, and what events have changed this belief? If space is discrete, does this mean that the fundamental constants are rational numbers? If the fundamental constants were real numbers, couldn't you encode arbitrary amounts of information into your theory, hiding the complexity in these constants? ​​At what stage in history did the idea of extraterrestrial alien life start to be entertained? Is this a relatively recent phenomenon, or was it a thing even in ancient Greek philosophy? When did we first realize that we only see the same side of the Moon? ​ What belief systems/groups of people have historically believed in a fundamentally discrete universe? ​Why do you think the distribution of new discoveries is so random? See, for example, Nassim Taleb's example of 6,000 years between the wheel and wheels on a suitcase, for example. View Less »
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History of Science & Technology Q&A:
History of Science and Technology Q&A (February 23, 2022) »

1 hour 19 minutes

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In eight hundred years, what will people call the methodology of NKS? ​I always felt Ptolemy's system was a necessary step before Copernicus and Newton. Without that slightly dodgy pseudo-scientific reasoning, Copernicus and Newton wouldn't have "fixed" and refined it. Newton invented calculus and his three laws. Do you consider the new Physics Project developing a new tool like calculus, or are you inventing new laws? Why was gravitoelectromagnetism ignored for so long? ​I disagree with Wolfram. I think there is no "end" to how infinitesimal the universe gets. There's always more—the discoveries will never end. I understand a great deal of human history was lost in ancient Alexandria. Of the early mathematics, are there texts that reference concepts that are lost to us? ​​Is ruliology a "young person's game," an "old person's game" or something else? What traits do you think will be most important for great ruliologists? (Ruliologers? Rulioligizers? Rulioligraphers?) View Less »
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History of Science & Technology Q&A:
History of Science and Technology Q&A (February 9, 2022) »

1 hour 27 minutes

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​I think that there has been a concerted and focused effort to give greater emphasis to STEM education since WWII. Has the history of science been left out in this process? Nassim Taleb points out that engineering precedes theory, even in complicated projects such as jet propulsion. Can you think of historical counterexamples when theory preceded engineering? Can you talk about some times in history when scientific knowledge was destroyed and why that occurred? What is the history of the Ivy League? Why are those universities so prestigious? How does science progress from outside of the academic process? What do you make of the work being undertaken to lab grow woolly mammoths in a collaboration between a team at Harvard and the company Colossal and its potential in curbing the thawing of permafrost to mitigate the impact of the release of all the built-up carbon? Do you believe that Fermat really solved Fermat's last theorem with a "truly marvelous demonstration," or was his solution probably not mathematically rigorous? What is your opinion on polymathy in the modern age of specialization? ​How has our understanding of time changed over history? What do you think is the limit of human understanding, or is there a limit? View Less »
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History of Science & Technology Q&A:
History of Science and Technology Q&A (January 26, 2022) »

1 hour 22 minutes

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With the benefit of hindsight, what would you have changed in the early developments of the internet during the late 60s, early 70s, if anything? What was your take in 1993 when US Congress cancelled the Superconducting Super Collider project which had been started south of Dallas, TX? What long-term effects did this have? Dr. Wolfram, I recall Sir. Kelvin or one of his contemporary was saying everything is discovered physics, it was just before special relativity. Do you think we are in a similar precipice? I'm a cryogenic engineer if you want your brain stored later in life then please don't hesitate to contact me Stephen Would be a honor to store your brain View Less »
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History of Science & Technology Q&A:
History of Science and Technology Q&A (January 12, 2022) »

1 hour 19 minutes

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What is the history of bugs and debugging? Did you ever meet Andrei Sakharov? What do you think of his Cosmology? How did you meet Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and why do you think he was able to take very computational approach to finance instead of reasoning by analogy? How does Log4Shell compare to other historically-significant web vulnerabilities? Does the internet tend to course correct after large vulnerabilities? View Less »
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