Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others: Stephen Wolfram Livestreams

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and others) [Episode 158] »

1 hour 29 minutes

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Books have been relatively unchanged—would you say that's a "technology" that has been mastered? My son asks: Given there's a max amount of information you can store in a given region of space, how can we simulate complex systems (like brains or universes) without exceeding physical limits? We're taught science discovers truth through observation and experiment. But in practice, I see science building mathematical models that work—sometimes treated as exact reality. How do you, as a scientist, separate calculation tools from physical truth in your actual work? Where does experience draw that line? What lessons can we learn from the evolution of flight? Beyond the mechanics, Dawkins reflects In the book Flights of Fancy on the broader implications of flight evolution, considering what it reveals about natural selection, adaptation and the interconnectedness of life. View Less »

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and others) [Episode 157] »

1 hour 25 minutes

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How would you, Stephen Wolfram, think about replacing textbooks in education? What are some better tools for the classroom? Can you teach us how to be scientists? What's the first step? Intellectual curiosity is required to be a good scientist. And moral character, to stand by what you find, even if controversial. If you can explain it in simple terms, you understand it. I wanted to be a scientist as a kid, but I was actively discouraged from doing that. What would you tell to a kid to encourage them? How will new technology and especially GenAI change our education, and what role should parents play during this crucial transition? Do you think it would be [good] to make some infrastructures to think more creatively, e.g. logging your thoughts and trying to dissect your mental models, etc.? In my experience, the kids that should become scientists start asking, "How do we know that?" early on. And for most adults (especially teachers!), that is the hardest question. I heard that physicists still don't understand how friction works. Is that true? How would you answer where this universe gets its "expanding substance" from? Would you be open to the possibility of other mathematics than the one we use now? Would be happy to hear your thoughts on this subject. Do you think that the emergence of AI in our lives marks the end of curiosity, or the beginning of an era where curiosity will grow even greater because it will be satisfied? What effect do you think wide-scale adoption of LLMs will have on the boundary of the knowable? How do you feel about integrating 3D models, animations, AI... overall media, to learning science? For example, having as output a 3D model and animation of flight path instead of just numbers and plain text on paper? How would you think about encryption in the age of AI and LLMs? It seems like they would be able to pick up the patterns with ease once exposed. Is it possible to build a compact mechanical SHA256 encryption device that will be resistant to solar flares? View Less »

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and others) [Episode 156] »

1 hour 22 minutes

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Can you talk about lambda calculus? Any thoughts on numerology? My current favorite approximation to a constant (e, in this case) is (1 + 9^-4^(7*6))^3^2^85, which uses each of the digits 1–9 only once and is accurate to 18 septillion digits. Atmospheric noise is about as random as we can get, I think. How does IBM Watson AI stand against modern LLMs? Would the LLM have the same reaction time to compete and press the buzzer as humans? Is it possible someday we may predict the weather years in advance? Well then, is weather a good random sequence? How do you calculate wind speed if wind is just a pressure difference? If the Earth started rotating in reverse, would that have an effect on weather? What would it take to stabilize the weather (like using wind farms in reverse or controlling ground albedo or atmosphere composition) so that we know it exactly? Can the Earth's tilt ever be affected? What kind of changes would this cause? There is a rather large difference between what the ideal climate would be and what changes will mean trouble for us, given our current infrastructure. Even the weather can't agree on what the weather should be. View Less »

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and others) [Episode 155] »

1 hour 31 minutes

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How do we know how far stars, galaxies, etc. are in space? Can you tell about the science of gem cutting, brilliance, internal refraction, etc.? Does that mean that objects with higher refractive indexes heat up more? Are there any materials that slow light down enough so that we can actually see it traveling without technology helping out? How would you describe science? And how are you staying a scientist? Can you talk about scientific paradigms? Interesting parallel to current research in LLMs that have so many variables and so much variability that reproducibility is extremely hard—even if it is "just" computers. Do you think science has a problem with trying to tell nature how to behave rather than reporting on what nature is telling us? What if you start the prompt with a script for the tech demo and ask the LLM to not go off script? I've often been amazed at how LLMs sometimes reproduce realistic human behavior. We have seen them sometimes "lie" or try to "cover" a mistake. What's your intuition now for what makes the best prompter? Do you have any suggestions on coming up with ways to test hypotheses, especially ones that are more theoretical and difficult to test in the real world? How do you know when you have a good test? How are diamonds made? How can fermions adopt a condensate configuration, or can they? View Less »

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and others) [Episode 154] »

1 hour 16 minutes

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My question is, When we transfer an electric charge to a conducting sphere, does this charge cause some metal atoms to become ions? If they do not become ions, where do the electrons go? If they become ions, then their chemical properties must also change. Which answer is correct? In the recent LA fires, I've seen buildings burned but plants and trees next to them just fine. Is there some physical or chemical reason why the plants are fine and buildings not? Do photons collide? The light coming to us and the light going back to the source? I have a question about antimatter. What do we use to contain antimatter? How would you think about photons as a 10-year-old? What's an easy explanation? What is antimatter anyway? Is it supposed to be something that pairs up with matter to maintain some kind of conservation law? Are we unintentionally leaving behind a time capsule with light waves? Will scientists of the future be able to look back in time through light? View Less »

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and others) [Episode 153] »

1 hour 27 minutes

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What is computation? How does matter go from randomly moving particles to something that starts "computing"? My son watched The Matrix for the first time the other night. He asked me, "Are we living in the matrix?" How can we know one way or another? Is binary the most effective form of computation? Do you think we will ever be able to observe a graviton? Is it possible a "universe" exists that has no equivalent of "mass," which could be in the same place and time as we are but is not observable by us? Any thoughts on the developing situation with dark matter? Why do all objects take a spherical shape in space, but the solar systems and galaxies take a disc-like shape? Please share some more insights while you and Christopher were working on the movie Arrival as science consultants. Tell us more about the ideas from the movie and how they are currently being developed. If there's antimatter, is there antimass? Can we build a massage chair based on gravitational waves? Could the differences in time perception between ourselves and aliens affect our abilities to interact and be a contributing factor or solution to the Fermi paradox? View Less »

Stephen Wolfram Livestreams

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others (158 videos)