Q&A with Stephen Wolfram

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<button class="hamburger">&equiv;</button> <h1 id="logo"> <a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com">Stephen Wolfram <svg viewBox="6.252 51.944 1031.673 96.468"> <g id="logoSVG"> <path d="M643.657,60.162c1.429-0.357,2.501-0.714,3.572-0.714h0.536V53.91h-34.121v5.538h0.536 c4.287,0.357,7.503,1.072,9.468,1.965c1.787,0.894,2.68,1.965,2.68,3.216c0,1.072-0.179,2.322-0.357,3.751 s-0.893,4.288-1.965,8.218c-1.429,5.716-3.395,12.505-5.538,20.544c-2.144,7.682-4.645,16.436-7.503,26.439L588.456,55.16h-6.968 l-22.33,66.812c-4.823-16.971-8.218-29.297-10.719-37.693c-2.501-8.575-4.287-15.006-5.181-18.758c0-0.357-0.179-1.072-0.357-1.786 c-0.179-0.715-0.179-1.251-0.179-1.608c0-1.072,1.607-1.608,3.037-1.965c2.322-0.536,5.002-0.714,8.218-0.893h0.536V53.91h-38.23 v5.538h0.536c1.071,0,2.322,0.357,3.751,0.714c1.43,0.357,2.502,0.894,3.573,1.608c1.251,0.893,2.144,1.787,2.858,2.68 s1.251,2.144,1.607,3.394c1.608,5.538,4.646,16.257,9.111,32.514c4.466,16.078,8.933,31.799,13.22,46.805l0.179,0.357h6.432 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c-1.511-7.717-3.043-15.699-4.41-23.561l-0.122-0.694c-0.672-3.749-1.334-7.618-0.672-11.29l1.422-0.85 c1.715-0.924,3.322-2.033,4.796-3.307c3.513-3.107,6.731-6.533,9.614-10.232c1.267-1.897,2.209-3.991,2.79-6.196 c0.297-0.893,0.562-1.731,0.882-2.547C674.238,77.376,677.832,67.145,677.094,55.876z M665.771,69.735l-1.411,3.914 c-1.532,4.245-3.109,8.644-4.752,12.922c-1.693,4.485-4.831,8.278-8.92,10.783c-0.011-0.118-0.011-0.235,0-0.353 c0.232-11.874,1.896-21.125,5.271-29.107c2.58-6.031,6.186-10.287,11.025-12.977c0.471,0.565,0.693,1.297,0.617,2.028 C667.788,61.286,667.168,65.623,665.771,69.735z" /> </g> </svg> </a> <nav id="nav"> <ul> <li> <ul class="links"> <li class="about"><a href="//www.stephenwolfram.com/about/">ABOUT</a></li> <li class="blog"><a href="//writings.stephenwolfram.com">WRITINGS</a></li> <li class="publications"><a href="//www.stephenwolfram.com/publications/">PUBLICATIONS</a></li> <li class="media"><a href="//www.stephenwolfram.com/media/">MEDIA</a></li> <li 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$('.hamburger').click(function(e){ e.stopPropagation(); $('.links').toggleClass('show'); $('#header > .inner').toggleClass('open'); if($('.overlay').length < 1 && !$('.links').hasClass('hide')) { $('#header').append('<div class="overlay">'); } else { $('.overlay').remove(); } }); $('body').click(function(){ $('.links').removeClass('show'); $('.overlay').remove(); $('#header > .inner').removeClass('open'); }); </script> <main class="main"> <header class="main-header"> <div class="inner"> <div class="medium-col-width"> <h1 class="heading"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions">Stephen Wolfram Q&A</a></h1> <a href="/questions/submit-a-question" class="button float-r submit-a-question"> <svg width="23.812px" height="19px" viewBox="0 0 23.812 19"> <g> <path fill="#fff" d="M23.812,5.812L19.062,5.812L19.062,10.312L23.812,5.812Z" /> <path fill="#fff" d="M19.591,2.654C19.591,1.189 18.402,0 16.937,0L2.654,0C1.189,0 0,1.189 0,2.654L0,14.596C0,16.061 1.189,17.25 2.654,17.25L16.937,17.25C18.402,17.25 19.591,16.061 19.591,14.596L19.591,2.654Z" /> </g> <rect x="2.906" y="4.031" fill="#F37929" width="13.938" height="1.938"/> <rect x="2.906" y="7.875" fill="#F37929" width="13.938" height="1.938"/> <rect x="2.906" y="11.281" fill="#F37929" width="6.764" height="1.938"/> </svg> Submit a question </a> <p class="tagline">Some collected questions and answers by Stephen Wolfram</p> <div class='tagbuttons'> <a class="tag" data-tag="all" href="?c=all">All</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="advice" href="?c=advice">Advice</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="artificial-intelligence" href="?c=artificial-intelligence">Artificial Intelligence</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="business" href="?c=business">Business</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="current-events" href="?c=current-events">Current Events</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="education" href="?c=education">Education</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="future-perspectives" href="?c=future-perspectives">Future Perspectives</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="historical-perspectives" href="?c=historical-perspectives">Historical Perspectives</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="just-curious" href="?c=just-curious">Just Curious...</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="mathematics" href="?c=mathematics">Mathematics</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="people" href="?c=people">People</a> <a class="tag on" data-tag="personal-history" href="?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-productivity" href="?c=personal-productivity">Personal Productivity</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="science" href="?c=science">Science</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="software-technology" href="?c=software-technology">Software Technology</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="wolfram-language" href="?c=wolfram-language">Wolfram Language</a> </div> <p><em>Questions may be edited for brevity; see links for full questions.</em></p> </div> </div> </header> <section> <div class="inner"> <div><h1 id="category">Personal History</h1><span id="count">(32)</span></div> <div id="posts" class="grid heirs-width-1-2 heirs-width-full__600"> <div class="project education personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="1993-03-03 14:53:05"> <p class="date">March 3, 1993</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.stephenwolfram.com/media/interview-stephen-wolfram-mathematica-education/'>Interview by Paul Wellin, <em>Mathematica in Education</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/1993/03/03/you-went-to-oxford-for-college-but-never-finished-there-so-what-led-from-there-to-caltech/">You went to Oxford for college, but never finished there—so what led from there to Caltech?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>I was pretty much on the track of doing particle physics research, and being a physics undergraduate at Oxford wasn&#8217;t a particularly useful environment in which to do particle physics research. Since I had the opportunity fairly easily to go to graduate school in the US, I decided to do that and I chose to go to Caltech.</p> <p>The first year that I was at Caltech was the year that I had the highest rate of publishing papers of any time in my life. I actually think that on average, I was turning out a particle physics paper every few weeks. My main conclusion was that I did in fact know how to do particle physics research, so I collected together some of those papers and made a PhD thesis out of it. I ended up getting my PhD when I was just 20. In later years, I&#8217;ve realized that it was a big mistake not to make the effort to get my PhD a few weeks earlier: it would be so amusing to say that one got one&#8217;s PhD when one was a teenager!</p> <p>Anyway, after I got my PhD I started thinking about doing things other than particle physics. At the time, I was involved in doing various particle physics calculations which involved very complicated algebraic expressions. I ended up trying to use Macsyma<sup>&#174;</sup> to do these things. I had already been using Macsyma for several years for a variety of purposes. But my big disappointment was that after having written an incredibly ugly giant piece of code to do particle physics calculations, it in the end didn&#8217;t work properly because of various limitations in Macsyma.</p> <p>As a result of that experience, I decided that it should be possible to do something better than Macsyma. So my first step was to talk to the folks who had originally written Macsyma and try to persuade them that it was time to build a second-generation system. What ended up happening, though, was that the older people who were involved in the project said, &#8220;Well, you&#8217;re probably right that we could do a lot better if we started again, but we&#8217;re too old to consider doing that&#8221;. The younger people said, &#8220;No, no, Macsyma is the best thing you could possibly do along these lines&mdash;you could never do better&#8221;. I didn&#8217;t really believe that, and so I embarked on what became the SMP project, which was an effort to build a really powerful algebraic computation system. One of the very important things that happened in the course of building SMP was that I realized that there was a much richer style of programming that could be used when doing symbolic computations&mdash;rather than the Pascal&ndash;Algol&ndash;Fortan-like programming that was, for example, built into Macsyma.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="I was pretty much on the track of doing particle physics research, and being a physics undergraduate at Oxford wasn&#8217;t a particularly useful environment in which to do particle physics research. Since I had the opportunity fairly easily to go to graduate school in the US, I decided to do that and I chose to go to Caltech. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> I was pretty much on the track of doing particle physics research, and being a physics undergraduate at Oxford wasn’t a particularly useful environment in which to do particle physics research. Since I had the opportunity fairly easily to go to graduate school in the US, I decided to do that and I chose to go to Caltech. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="education" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=education">Education</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project business personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="1996-06-01 17:36:06"> <p class="date">June 1, 1996</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.stephenwolfram.com/media/software-maverick-champaign/'>Interview by <em>Chicago Software Newspaper</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/1996/06/01/was-the-macarthur-fellowship-grant-what-enabled-you-to-start-wolfram-research/">Was the MacArthur Fellowship grant what enabled you to start Wolfram Research?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>No, that wasn&#8217;t really enough. I made some money from the previous company and I made money doing consulting work too. Also, the costs of launching a software company aren&#8217;t that great. I tell people that if a software company costs more than a million dollars to launch you are doing something wrong. Wolfram Research didn&#8217;t cost that much to start.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="No, that wasn&#8217;t really enough. I made some money from the previous company and I made money doing consulting work too. Also, the costs of launching a software company aren&#8217;t that great. I tell people that if a software company costs more than a million dollars to launch you are doing something wrong. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> No, that wasn’t really enough. I made some money from the previous company and I made money doing consulting work too. Also, the costs of launching a software company aren’t that great. I tell people that if a software company costs more than a million dollars to launch you are doing something wrong. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="business" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=business">Business</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history personal-productivity" data-position="normal" data-date="1996-09-30 17:54:08"> <p class="date">September 30, 1996</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/media/math-genius-who-decided-not-play-numbers/">Interview by Robers Lee Hotz, <em>Los Angeles Times</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/1996/09/30/you-went-from-caltech-to-the-princeton-institute-for-advanced-studies-to-the-university-of-illinois-and-now-you-are-on-your-own-is-it-easier-outside-the-university/">You went from Caltech to the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies to the University of Illinois, and now you are on your own. Is it easier outside the university?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>My view about doing basic science is that if you have no choice, then getting paid by a university is a fine thing to do. If you have a choice, there are a lot better ways to live.</p> <p>In my life now, where I am a CEO of a company, the actual fraction of my time that I can get to devote to basic science thinking is probably much larger than the fraction of time that a typical senior professor at a university would get to devote to actual basic research. If you are a senior university professor, you are out raising money from the government, being on committees, teaching classes, and it is only in the extra bonus time that you get to do research.</p> <p>I don&#8217;t have to beg the government. I don&#8217;t have to convince anyone at the National Science Foundation that what I am doing is not as nutty as they might assume or as the peer review system might say it was.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="My view about doing basic science is that if you have no choice, then getting paid by a university is a fine thing to do. If you have a choice, there are a lot better ways to live. In my life now, where I am a CEO of a company, the actual fraction of my time that I can get to devote to basic science thinking is probably much larger than the fraction of time that a typical senior professor at a university would get to devote to actual basic research. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> My view about doing basic science is that if you have no choice, then getting paid by a university is a fine thing to do. If you have a choice, there are a lot better ways to live. In my life now, where I am a CEO of a company, the actual fraction of my time that I can get to devote to basic science thinking is probably much larger than the fraction of time that a typical senior professor at a university would get to devote to actual basic research. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-productivity" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-productivity">Personal Productivity</a> </div> </div> <div class="project just-curious personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="1998-02-06 20:42:26"> <p class="date">February 6, 1998</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.stephenwolfram.com/media/computers-science-extraterrestrials-interview-stephen-wolfram/'>Interview by David Stork, <em>Hal's Legacy: 2001's Computer as Dream and Reality</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/1998/02/06/if-i-calculated-correctly-2001-a-space-odyssey-must-have-come-out-when-you-were-nine-years-old-did-you-see-it-then/">If I calculated correctly, <em>2001: A Space Odyssey</em> must have come out when you were nine years old. Did you see it then?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>Definitely. In fact, it was my favorite movie, and I ended up seeing it quite a few times.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="Definitely. In fact, it was my favorite movie, and I ended up seeing it quite a few times."> Definitely. In fact, it was my favorite movie, and I ended up seeing it quite a few times. </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="just-curious" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=just-curious">Just Curious...</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project just-curious personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="1998-02-06 20:46:16"> <p class="date">February 6, 1998</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.stephenwolfram.com/media/computers-science-extraterrestrials-interview-stephen-wolfram/'>Interview by David Stork, <em>Hal's Legacy: 2001's Computer as Dream and Reality</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/1998/02/06/what-was-it-that-you-liked-about-2001-a-space-odyssey/">What was it that you liked about <em>2001: A Space Odyssey</em>?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>All the technology. It had such a rich rendering of technology. So bright and attractive. I followed the US space program quite a bit in those days, but I was always disappointed when I realized that the inside of a spacecraft was just the size of a closet. In <em>2001</em> there were masses of technology, and I really liked it.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="All the technology. It had such a rich rendering of technology. So bright and attractive. I followed the US space program quite a bit in those days, but I was always disappointed when I realized that the inside of a spacecraft was just the size of a closet. In <em>2001</em> there were masses of technology, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> All the technology. It had such a rich rendering of technology. So bright and attractive. I followed the US space program quite a bit in those days, but I was always disappointed when I realized that the inside of a spacecraft was just the size of a closet. In <em>2001</em> there were masses of technology, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="just-curious" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=just-curious">Just Curious...</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project just-curious personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="1998-02-06 20:48:01"> <p class="date">February 6, 1998</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.stephenwolfram.com/media/computers-science-extraterrestrials-interview-stephen-wolfram/'>Interview by David Stork, <em>Hal's Legacy: 2001's Computer as Dream and Reality</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/1998/02/06/did-you-identify-with-any-of-the-characters-in-2001/">Did you identify with any of the characters in <em>2001: A Space Odyssey</em>?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>Not really. At the time, I was young, and they all seemed quite old, and very American. Growing up in England, all that &#8220;Roger your plan to go EVA&#8221; stuff seemed pretty foreign to me. I guess I didn&#8217;t ever imagine talking jargon like that. One thing, though, was that I definitely was very interested in one day being able to interact with the kind of technology that was in the movie. At that time, though, I thought that meant that I&#8217;d have to join NASA or something. I&#8217;m sure I didn&#8217;t think about it in those terms, but I certainly didn&#8217;t imagine the kind of flattening of who has access to technology that&#8217;s actually happened.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="Not really. At the time, I was young, and they all seemed quite old, and very American. Growing up in England, all that &#8220;Roger your plan to go EVA&#8221; stuff seemed pretty foreign to me. I guess I didn&#8217;t ever imagine talking jargon like that. One thing, though, was that I definitely was very interested in one day being able to interact with the kind of technology that was in the movie. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> Not really. At the time, I was young, and they all seemed quite old, and very American. Growing up in England, all that “Roger your plan to go EVA” stuff seemed pretty foreign to me. I guess I didn’t ever imagine talking jargon like that. One thing, though, was that I definitely was very interested in one day being able to interact with the kind of technology that was in the movie. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="just-curious" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=just-curious">Just Curious...</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project just-curious personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="1998-02-06 20:50:30"> <p class="date">February 6, 1998</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.stephenwolfram.com/media/computers-science-extraterrestrials-interview-stephen-wolfram/'>Interview by David Stork, <em>Hal's Legacy: 2001's Computer as Dream and Reality</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/1998/02/06/what-struck-you-most-about-2001-a-space-odyssey-watching-it-now-in-your-adulthood/">What struck you most about <em>2001: A Space Odyssey</em> watching it now, in your adulthood?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>Well, it seemed a lot shorter than when I was a kid. It also seemed to make a lot more sense. I guess I now at least think I understand how all the pieces are supposed to fit together. And they really raise some very interesting questions. But let&#8217;s talk about that later.</p> <p>Another thing that struck me a lot watching <em>2001</em> this evening was how emotionally cold it is. I don&#8217;t think I noticed that at all when I was a kid. But seeing the movie now I was just amazed at how little human emotion there is in it. I think HAL was the most emotive of the bunch in the end.</p> <p>When I was a kid I guess I had this vague idea that scientists were the kind of emotionless characters that are portrayed in the movie. They never seemed to get excited about anything. Maybe that&#8217;s a bit of what&#8217;s wrong with science, actually. For most people there&#8217;s so little passion in it. Just get the data, analyze it from 9 to 5, and so on. Kubrick may have had that exactly right.</p> <p>Anyway, you ask what struck me about the movie. Another thing is how rich almost every scene is. There were so many details. So many things that someone must have really thought about. It&#8217;s a damned good piece of work. And I suppose what&#8217;s nice about it is that enough people think that every scene has really been studied carefully. And people are even writing books about what happened in the movie. Like this one, I guess!</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="Well, it seemed a lot shorter than when I was a kid. It also seemed to make a lot more sense. I guess I now at least think I understand how all the pieces are supposed to fit together. And they really raise some very interesting questions. But let&#8217;s talk about that later. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> Well, it seemed a lot shorter than when I was a kid. It also seemed to make a lot more sense. I guess I now at least think I understand how all the pieces are supposed to fit together. And they really raise some very interesting questions. But let’s talk about that later. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="just-curious" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=just-curious">Just Curious...</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2002-07-07 22:57:15"> <p class="date">July 7, 2002</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/magazine/the-way-we-live-now-7-7-02-questions-for-stephen-wolfram-complexity-made-simple.html' target='_blank'>Interview by Loch Adamson, <em>The New York Times</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2002/07/07/you-were-a-child-prodigy-was-that-a-burden/">You were a child prodigy. Was that a burden?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>I consider myself a very peculiar case of the child-prodigy phenomenon. I was fortunate enough to go through educational tracks that included lots of other smart kids. I suppose if somebody had asked me when I was a teenager writing particle-physics papers, do I think that there are a lot of other teenagers doing the same thing, I certainly would have said no. But I didn&#8217;t consider it so remarkable.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="I consider myself a very peculiar case of the child-prodigy phenomenon. I was fortunate enough to go through educational tracks that included lots of other smart kids. I suppose if somebody had asked me when I was a teenager writing particle-physics papers, do I think that there are a lot of other teenagers doing the same thing, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> I consider myself a very peculiar case of the child-prodigy phenomenon. I was fortunate enough to go through educational tracks that included lots of other smart kids. I suppose if somebody had asked me when I was a teenager writing particle-physics papers, do I think that there are a lot of other teenagers doing the same thing, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2003-04-07 21:55:38"> <p class="date">April 7, 2003</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.the-scientist.com/first-person/stephen-wolfram-51807' target='_blank'>Interview by <em>The Scientist Magazine</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2003/04/07/what-did-you-do-for-fun-as-a-child/">What did you do for fun as a child?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>When I was a kid, the thing that I was interested in was science. In doing science, if I wanted to get to the local university library, I had to bicycle. I suppose the bicycling was a more traditional kid thing to do.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="When I was a kid, the thing that I was interested in was science. In doing science, if I wanted to get to the local university library, I had to bicycle. I suppose the bicycling was a more traditional kid thing to do."> When I was a kid, the thing that I was interested in was science. In doing science, if I wanted to get to the local university library, I had to bicycle. I suppose the bicycling was a more traditional kid thing to do. </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2003-04-07 21:57:07"> <p class="date">April 7, 2003</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.the-scientist.com/first-person/stephen-wolfram-51807' target='_blank'>Interview by <em>The Scientist Magazine</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2003/04/07/has-having-children-changed-how-you-think-about-life-about-science-about-yourself/">Has having children changed how you think about life, about science, about yourself?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>I&#8217;m lucky enough to have children who are interested in understanding all sorts of things, and it&#8217;s certainly been fascinating to figure out how to explain science and business and so on to them. They&#8217;ve taught me a lot.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="I&#8217;m lucky enough to have children who are interested in understanding all sorts of things, and it&#8217;s certainly been fascinating to figure out how to explain science and business and so on to them. They&#8217;ve taught me a lot."> I’m lucky enough to have children who are interested in understanding all sorts of things, and it’s certainly been fascinating to figure out how to explain science and business and so on to them. They’ve taught me a lot. </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2008-07-01 16:45:55"> <p class="date">July 1, 2008</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.stephenwolfram.com/media/five-questions-about-philosophy-computing/'>Interview by Luciano Floridi, <em>Philosophy of Computing and Information: 5 Questions</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2008/07/01/why-were-you-initially-drawn-to-computational-andor-informational-issues/">Why were you initially drawn to computational and/or informational issues?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>At first, it was a very practical thing. I always believe in using the best tools. And in the early 1970s (when I was an early teenager), I happened to get interested in physics. And I realized that the best way to figure out some things I wanted to figure out in physics was to use a computer. So I learned how to do that.</p> <p>In the years that followed I became pretty good at using computers in practice to figure things out. And then at the beginning of the 1980s I decided to start building better tools for the kind of computing I wanted to do. And I realized that to do that I needed to understand more about the foundations of computation.</p> <p>When I went on doing science, I then realized that I could apply what I&#8217;d learned about the foundations of computation. And the result was that I developed a new approach to science that&#8217;s very fundamentally based on computational ideas.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="At first, it was a very practical thing. I always believe in using the best tools. And in the early 1970s (when I was an early teenager), I happened to get interested in physics. And I realized that the best way to figure out some things I wanted to figure out in physics was to use a computer. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> At first, it was a very practical thing. I always believe in using the best tools. And in the early 1970s (when I was an early teenager), I happened to get interested in physics. And I realized that the best way to figure out some things I wanted to figure out in physics was to use a computer. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2008-11-12 17:21:27"> <p class="date">November 12, 2008</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.stephenwolfram.com/media/five-questions-about-complexity/'>Interview by Carlos Gershenson, <em>Complexity: 5 Questions</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2008/11/12/why-did-you-begin-working-with-complex-systems/">Why did you begin working with complex systems?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>It&#8217;s a slightly complex story. I started working in physics when I was an early teenager. Mostly I worked on particle physics, but I also thought a lot about the foundations of thermodynamics and statistical physics. And around 1978 I got very interested in the question of how complex structure arises in the universe&mdash;from galaxies on down.</p> <p>Soon thereafter, I became very involved in computer language design&mdash;creating a precursor of what is now Mathematica&mdash;and was very struck by the process of going from the simple primitives in a good language, to all of the rich and complex things that can be created from it.</p> <p>In 1981 I felt like taking a little break from my activities in doing physics, computing and starting a company. I decided to do something &#8220;fun&#8221;. I thought I would look back at my old interests in structure formation. I realized that there was the same central question in lots and lots of fields: given fairly simple underlying components, how does such-and-such a complex structure or phenomenon arise?</p> <p>I decided to try to tackle that question&mdash;as kind of an abstract scientific question. I think what I did was very informed by my experience in creating computer languages. I tried to find the very simplest possible primitives&mdash;and see what happened with those. I ended up studying cellular automata, and in using those discovered what I thought were some pretty fundamental facts about how complexity can arise.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="It&#8217;s a slightly complex story. I started working in physics when I was an early teenager. Mostly I worked on particle physics, but I also thought a lot about the foundations of thermodynamics and statistical physics. And around 1978 I got very interested in the question of how complex structure arises in the universe&mdash;from galaxies on down. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> It’s a slightly complex story. I started working in physics when I was an early teenager. Mostly I worked on particle physics, but I also thought a lot about the foundations of thermodynamics and statistical physics. And around 1978 I got very interested in the question of how complex structure arises in the universe—from galaxies on down. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project mathematics personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2012-03-05 16:51:42"> <p class="date">March 5, 2012</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/qisot/im_stephen_wolfram_mathematica_nks_wolframalpha/c3xxh5c/' target='_blank'>Reddit AMA</a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2012/03/05/what-got-you-into-mathematics-in-the-first-place-what-is-your-favorite-piece-of-mathematics-i-e-theorem-proof-fact-construction-etc/">What got you into mathematics in the first place? What is your favorite piece of mathematics? i.e theorem, proof, fact, construction etc.</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>Actually, I was first interested in physics&#8230; and I learned mathematics as support for that.</p> <p>I&#8217;m not sure if it completely counts as mathematics, but I guess it&#8217;s the possibility of universal computation. I think that&#8217;s the most important thing that&#8217;s been discovered in the past century, and perhaps a lot more.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="Actually, I was first interested in physics&#8230; and I learned mathematics as support for that. I&#8217;m not sure if it completely counts as mathematics, but I guess it&#8217;s the possibility of universal computation. I think that&#8217;s the most important thing that&#8217;s been discovered in the past century, and perhaps a lot more."> Actually, I was first interested in physics… and I learned mathematics as support for that. I’m not sure if it completely counts as mathematics, but I guess it’s the possibility of universal computation. I think that’s the most important thing that’s been discovered in the past century, and perhaps a lot more. </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="mathematics" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=mathematics">Mathematics</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project education personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2012-03-05 16:52:48"> <p class="date">March 5, 2012</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/qisot/im_stephen_wolfram_mathematica_nks_wolframalpha/c3xxc6y/' target='_blank'>Reddit AMA</a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2012/03/05/was-there-anything-you-wish-your-parents-had-done-differently-to-make-your-early-education-smoother-as-a-child-what-about-social-skills/">Was there anything you wish your parents had done differently to make your early education smoother as a child? What about social skills?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>I think Wikipedia may overstate the difficulty of my education 馃檪</p> <p>I went to some very good schools in England, and typically did rather well. However, starting from probably age 8 or so, I ended up learning the things I was really interested in outside of school, from books, etc. (I wish the web had existed; it would have saved an awful lot of bicycle trips to a library).</p> <p>I guess I never had much trouble with &#8220;self esteem&#8221; as such. I had a self image of being a &#8220;science type&#8221;. And that made it a little more difficult to realize that I could and should do things like starting companies.</p> <p>I think it&#8217;s often challenging in the educational system for people to understand with clarity (a) what they&#8217;re really good at, and interested in, and (b) what kinds of niches there are in the world. Too often, people get tracked according to what they happen to do well at early on, and never think outside. In that model, I would have done much less interesting things&#8230;</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="I think Wikipedia may overstate the difficulty of my education 馃檪 I went to some very good schools in England, and typically did rather well. However, starting from probably age 8 or so, I ended up learning the things I was really interested in outside of school, from books, etc. (I wish the web had existed; <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> I think Wikipedia may overstate the difficulty of my education 馃檪 I went to some very good schools in England, and typically did rather well. However, starting from probably age 8 or so, I ended up learning the things I was really interested in outside of school, from books, etc. (I wish the web had existed; <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="education" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=education">Education</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2012-05-12 16:42:00"> <p class="date">May 12, 2012</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/tmutz/stephen_wolfram_nks_10th_anniversary/c4nyyn0/' target='_blank'>Reddit AMA</a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2012/05/12/what-do-you-remember-most-about-your-time-at-eton-do-you-have-any-favorite-moments-least-favorite/">What do you remember most about your time at Eton? Do you have any favorite moments? Least favorite?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>I learned all these &#8220;useless&#8221; subjects, like Latin and Greek&#8230; and the bizarre thing is that (a) I still remember most of what I learned, and (b) I&#8217;ve actually ended up using a fair fraction of what I learned! (Think: naming products etc.)</p> <p>I was a &#8220;King&#8217;s Scholar&#8221; at Eton&#8230; I think the king in question was Henry VI, who lived before Columbus discovered America. The &#8220;allowance&#8221; for King&#8217;s Scholar had been 3d (3 old British pennies) and when I was at Eton they still ceremonially gave out 3d pieces once a year. There had been a choice of 3d or a pig, but apparently the pig option was discontinued some time before I was there.</p> <p>Perhaps my quintessential British moment came on one of the few occasions when I actually ended up playing a sport. I was supposed to be bowling in cricket. Which I did by rolling the ball along the ground (&#8220;underarm&#8221;). It was rather successful, and I got someone out&#8230; who was quite upset. I pointed out that my scheme was not against the rules. But he responded that while that might be so, &#8220;it&#8217;s just not cricket&#8221;.</p> <p>I suppose I learned some negative lessons at Eton too. The first term I was there I worked very hard so I would come top in the end-of-year exams for my class&#8230; which I succeeded in doing. But it turned out not to be very exciting&#8230; so that was the last time I was anything like that diligent.</p> <p>I happened to go through the whole system quite young&#8230; and continually got the feedback that there would eventually be some &#8220;social&#8221; problem with that. That gave me a self-image of being a kind of pure academic kid. Which if one had looked more carefully wasn&#8217;t correct. I was always organizing stuff, though usually outside of the usual tracks&#8230; and doing things that were pretty obviously (in retrospect) the kind of things one would expect any entrepreneur-type to do.</p> <p>Being a scholarship kid at Eton (the scholarship part was more about honorifics than about money, though there was money too) I ended up being with some pretty interesting other kids. And it&#8217;s been quite fascinating to me to see how they&#8217;ve all turned out (given that we&#8217;re all middle-aged now)&#8230;</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="I learned all these &#8220;useless&#8221; subjects, like Latin and Greek&#8230; and the bizarre thing is that (a) I still remember most of what I learned, and (b) I&#8217;ve actually ended up using a fair fraction of what I learned! (Think: naming products etc.) I was a &#8220;King&#8217;s Scholar&#8221; at Eton&#8230; I think the king in question was Henry VI, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> I learned all these “useless” subjects, like Latin and Greek… and the bizarre thing is that (a) I still remember most of what I learned, and (b) I’ve actually ended up using a fair fraction of what I learned! (Think: naming products etc.) I was a “King’s Scholar” at Eton… I think the king in question was Henry VI, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2012-05-14 14:53:53"> <p class="date">May 14, 2012</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/tmutz/stephen_wolfram_nks_10th_anniversary/c4nytgf/' target='_blank'>Reddit AMA</a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2012/05/14/given-that-you-received-your-phd-at-such-a-young-age-compared-to-many-others-in-your-field-what-was-that-experience-like-in-the-formative-years-of-your-career/">Given that you received your PhD at such a young age compared to many others in your field, what was that experience like in the formative years of your career?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>It was great! It was really nice to be &#8220;launched&#8221; and not to have years of school ahead of me.</p> <p>It&#8217;s a little weird now, because my &#8220;contemporaries&#8221; 30 years ago were quite a bit older than me&#8230; so while I think I&#8217;m still in my prime, a lot of my contemporaries are retiring etc.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="It was great! It was really nice to be &#8220;launched&#8221; and not to have years of school ahead of me. It&#8217;s a little weird now, because my &#8220;contemporaries&#8221; 30 years ago were quite a bit older than me&#8230; so while I think I&#8217;m still in my prime, a lot of my contemporaries are retiring etc."> It was great! It was really nice to be “launched” and not to have years of school ahead of me. It’s a little weird now, because my “contemporaries” 30 years ago were quite a bit older than me… so while I think I’m still in my prime, a lot of my contemporaries are retiring etc. </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project artificial-intelligence personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2015-07-27 16:37:28"> <p class="date">July 27, 2015</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://gigaom.com/2015/07/27/interview-with-stephen-wolfram-on-ai-and-the-future/' target='_blank'>Interview by Byron Reese, <em>Gigaom</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2015/07/27/when-do-you-first-remember-hearing-the-term-artificial-intelligence/">When do you first remember hearing the term “artificial intelligence”?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>That is a good question. I don&#8217;t have any idea. When I was a kid, in the 1960s in England, I think there was a prevailing assumption that it wouldn&#8217;t be long before there were automatic brains of some kind, and I certainly had books about the future at that time, and I&#8217;m sure that they contained things about them, how there would be some electronic brains, and so on. Whether they used the term &#8220;artificial intelligence&#8221;, I&#8217;m not quite sure. Good question. I don&#8217;t know.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="That is a good question. I don&#8217;t have any idea. When I was a kid, in the 1960s in England, I think there was a prevailing assumption that it wouldn&#8217;t be long before there were automatic brains of some kind, and I certainly had books about the future at that time, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> That is a good question. I don’t have any idea. When I was a kid, in the 1960s in England, I think there was a prevailing assumption that it wouldn’t be long before there were automatic brains of some kind, and I certainly had books about the future at that time, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="artificial-intelligence" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=artificial-intelligence">Artificial Intelligence</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2016-02-23 14:53:58"> <p class="date">February 23, 2016</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/478njk/im_stephen_wolframask_me_anything/d0bbg60/' target='_blank'>Reddit AMA</a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2016/02/23/are-there-any-things-you-miss-now-that-youre-an-outsider-to-traditional-academia/">Are there any things you miss now that you’re an outsider to traditional academia?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>I have many friends in academia, and end up interacting quite a lot with academia in one way or another: giving talks, meeting with groups of students, etc.</p> <p>But I&#8217;ve now spent several decades building an environment where I can implement ideas incredibly much faster than I ever could in academia&#8230; and when I look at academia, it seems very frustrating to me: it&#8217;s so slow compared to what I&#8217;m used to.</p> <p>A nice feature of academia is students&#8230; but I&#8217;m happy to say that we&#8217;re able to work with lots of students through our various programs.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="I have many friends in academia, and end up interacting quite a lot with academia in one way or another: giving talks, meeting with groups of students, etc. But I&#8217;ve now spent several decades building an environment where I can implement ideas incredibly much faster than I ever could in academia&#8230; <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> I have many friends in academia, and end up interacting quite a lot with academia in one way or another: giving talks, meeting with groups of students, etc. But I’ve now spent several decades building an environment where I can implement ideas incredibly much faster than I ever could in academia… <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2016-02-23 15:23:06"> <p class="date">February 23, 2016</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/478njk/im_stephen_wolframask_me_anything/d0bdcb9/'>Reddit AMA</a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2016/02/23/whats-the-earliest-program-you-can-remember-writing/">What’s the earliest program you can remember writing?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>It was 1972 or 1973 and I was about 13 years old&#8230; and I got access to <em>a computer</em>. It was an Elliott 903C programmed with 8 kilowords of (18-bit) ferrite core memory, and programmed with paper tape, and about the size of a large desk.</p> <p>I wrote a few tiny programs, then I wrote a program to do a simple simulation of gas molecules in a 2D box. I essentially reduced the problem to a cellular automaton&#8230; but I made the rules a bit too trivial, and I never ended up seeing some really interesting phenomena that I discovered for real about 10 years later.</p> <p>Another program I wrote (that I was rather proud of) was a paper tape loader. The tape (which was sometimes mylar rather than paper) got read by an optical reader at quite high speed&#8230; but there could be a problem if a little piece of confetti got stuck in a hole in the tape. I wrote a program that used error-correcting codes (though I hadn&#8217;t heard of those then) to correct single-hole errors, and detect bigger ones&#8230; then let people just pull the tape back in the reader and re-read a section&#8230;.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="It was 1972 or 1973 and I was about 13 years old&#8230; and I got access to <em>a computer</em>. It was an Elliott 903C programmed with 8 kilowords of (18-bit) ferrite core memory, and programmed with paper tape, and about the size of a large desk. I wrote a few tiny programs, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> It was 1972 or 1973 and I was about 13 years old… and I got access to <em>a computer</em>. It was an Elliott 903C programmed with 8 kilowords of (18-bit) ferrite core memory, and programmed with paper tape, and about the size of a large desk. I wrote a few tiny programs, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project just-curious personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2016-02-23 16:27:14"> <p class="date">February 23, 2016</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/478njk/im_stephen_wolframask_me_anything/d0b2bt1/' target='_blank'>Reddit AMA</a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2016/02/23/what-do-you-miss-about-england-that-america-doesnt-immediately-offer/">What do you miss about England that America doesn’t immediately offer?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>The candy 馃檪 And now there&#8217;s even a ban on the import of some British candy to the US.</p> <p>When I was growing up in England I was always frustrated by what seemed like an irrational level of respect for older people there. And I often said that England would be a good place to be older in, but wasn&#8217;t a good place to be young in. Unfortunately in the intervening decades I think the attitude in England has changed, so this wasn&#8217;t a good thing to look forward to 馃檪</p> <p>I always enjoy visiting England, and it&#8217;s fun to contrast attitudes in the US and UK. And I think I can at least still imitate the most British &#8220;jolly good show&#8221; kinds of things&#8230;.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="The candy 馃檪 And now there&#8217;s even a ban on the import of some British candy to the US. When I was growing up in England I was always frustrated by what seemed like an irrational level of respect for older people there. And I often said that England would be a good place to be older in, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> The candy 馃檪 And now there’s even a ban on the import of some British candy to the US. When I was growing up in England I was always frustrated by what seemed like an irrational level of respect for older people there. And I often said that England would be a good place to be older in, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="just-curious" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=just-curious">Just Curious...</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history science" data-position="featured" data-date="2016-02-23 20:55:54"> <p class="featured">featured</p> <p class="date">February 23, 2016</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/478njk/im_stephen_wolframask_me_anything/d0b25r4/' target='_blank'>Reddit AMA</a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2016/02/23/how-did-you-manage-to-start-legitimate-research-on-quantum-field-theory-when-you-were-only-15/">How did you manage to start legitimate research on quantum field theory when you were only 15?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>I discovered that one could learn things pretty well by reading books (well, today it would be reading the web). I always found (and still find) it much much easier to learn things when I have a particular question I&#8217;m trying to answer, or project I&#8217;m trying to do. At that time lots of things were happening in particle physics, and I set myself the goal of answering some questions that had come up &#8230; and then learned what I needed to know to do that.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="I discovered that one could learn things pretty well by reading books (well, today it would be reading the web). I always found (and still find) it much much easier to learn things when I have a particular question I&#8217;m trying to answer, or project I&#8217;m trying to do. At that time lots of things were happening in particle physics, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> I discovered that one could learn things pretty well by reading books (well, today it would be reading the web). I always found (and still find) it much much easier to learn things when I have a particular question I’m trying to answer, or project I’m trying to do. At that time lots of things were happening in particle physics, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="science" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=science">Science</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history wolfram-language" data-position="normal" data-date="2016-07-20 22:57:43"> <p class="date">July 20, 2016</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4tspts/im_stephen_wolframask_me_anything/d5jz1i8/' target='_blank'>Reddit AMA</a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2016/07/20/you-have-an-uncommon-experience-of-being-and-being-around-many-prominent-figures-in-the-scientific-community-how-has-this-influenced-the-development-of-the-wolfram-language/">You have an uncommon experience of being (and being around) many prominent figures in the scientific community. How has this influenced the development of the Wolfram Language?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>Designing a language that&#8217;s supposed to &#8220;know about everything&#8221; means one has to know about a lot of things oneself! It&#8217;s been absolutely crucial that I&#8217;ve been exposed to lots of different areas, and gotten to know the originators of lots of fields. At a practical level, it&#8217;s very common that I&#8217;ll want to get some judgement call on some detailed thing in some particular area. Now our company has a wide range of people who know about all sorts of different things. So my first step is just to think who in our company will know, or to consult our internal Who Knows What database. But then I&#8217;ll wonder who I can ask in the outside world. And it&#8217;s really wonderful being able to talk to experts in any possible field&mdash;and the founders of the field if they&#8217;re still around. I&#8217;ve had some really fascinating conversations that way.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="Designing a language that&#8217;s supposed to &#8220;know about everything&#8221; means one has to know about a lot of things oneself! It&#8217;s been absolutely crucial that I&#8217;ve been exposed to lots of different areas, and gotten to know the originators of lots of fields. At a practical level, it&#8217;s very common that I&#8217;ll want to get some judgement call on some detailed thing in some particular area. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> Designing a language that’s supposed to “know about everything” means one has to know about a lot of things oneself! It’s been absolutely crucial that I’ve been exposed to lots of different areas, and gotten to know the originators of lots of fields. At a practical level, it’s very common that I’ll want to get some judgement call on some detailed thing in some particular area. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="wolfram-language" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=wolfram-language">Wolfram Language</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history software-technology" data-position="normal" data-date="2016-11-07 21:20:16"> <p class="date">November 7, 2016</p> <p class="asker">From: Interview by Dingyu Chen, <em>Eton Magazine</em></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2016/11/07/what-first-inspired-you-to-create-wolframalpha/">What first inspired you to create Wolfram|Alpha?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>I was already thinking about making knowledge computable back when I was at Eton more than 40 years ago. For a long time I thought the only way to make a system like that would be to build something that basically emulates a brain. But as a result of a bunch of basic science I did in the 1990s, I realized that wasn&#8217;t true, and that one could build Wolfram|Alpha using computation, and some ideas from the science I developed. I wasn&#8217;t sure it was going to work, but I&#8217;m happy to say it has&#8230;</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="I was already thinking about making knowledge computable back when I was at Eton more than 40 years ago. For a long time I thought the only way to make a system like that would be to build something that basically emulates a brain. But as a result of a bunch of basic science I did in the 1990s, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> I was already thinking about making knowledge computable back when I was at Eton more than 40 years ago. For a long time I thought the only way to make a system like that would be to build something that basically emulates a brain. But as a result of a bunch of basic science I did in the 1990s, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="software-technology" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=software-technology">Software Technology</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history science" data-position="normal" data-date="2016-11-07 21:45:47"> <p class="date">November 7, 2016</p> <p class="asker">From: Interview by Dingyu Chen, <em>Eton Magazine</em></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2016/11/07/what-pushed-you-to-study-quantum-and-particle-physics-especially-starting-from-such-a-young-age/">What pushed you to study quantum and particle physics, especially starting from such a young age?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>Back when I was at Eton in the early to mid-1970s, particle physics was the most rapidly advancing field of science. It was an exciting time: there were significant new discoveries every few weeks. And it was really exciting for me to be part of that. Today that kind of excitement is what you find in lots of new &#8220;computational X&#8221; (X=archeology through zoology) fields.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="Back when I was at Eton in the early to mid-1970s, particle physics was the most rapidly advancing field of science. It was an exciting time: there were significant new discoveries every few weeks. And it was really exciting for me to be part of that. Today that kind of excitement is what you find in lots of new &#8220;computational X&#8221; <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> Back when I was at Eton in the early to mid-1970s, particle physics was the most rapidly advancing field of science. It was an exciting time: there were significant new discoveries every few weeks. And it was really exciting for me to be part of that. Today that kind of excitement is what you find in lots of new “computational X” <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="science" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=science">Science</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history software-technology" data-position="normal" data-date="2018-04-03 17:57:03"> <p class="date">April 3, 2018</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.space.com/40175-2001-50th-with-stephen-wolfram.html' target='_blank'>Interview by Harrison Tasoff, Space.com</a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2018/04/03/how-did-2001-a-space-odyssey-affect-the-projects-youve-embarked-on-and-the-approach-you-took-to-them/">How did <em>2001: A Space Odyssey</em> affect the projects you’ve embarked on and the approach you took to them?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>The notion of computers as visual things is probably something that I viscerally absorbed from <em>2001</em>. Because at the time when <em>2001</em> came out, computers were absolutely not visual things. In the first computer I used, its only form of IO [input/ output] was a paper tape reader and punch and a tele-printer. So the concept of things on screens and flashing 3D things and so on was absolutely distant from the actual experience of computers.</p> <p>Given that I&#8217;ve been involved in building a bunch of the technology that will lead us to HAL-like things, to what extent is fact following fiction, so to speak? I think the answer is I don&#8217;t really know.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="The notion of computers as visual things is probably something that I viscerally absorbed from <em>2001</em>. Because at the time when <em>2001</em> came out, computers were absolutely not visual things. In the first computer I used, its only form of IO [input/ output] was a paper tape reader and punch and a tele-printer. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> The notion of computers as visual things is probably something that I viscerally absorbed from <em>2001</em>. Because at the time when <em>2001</em> came out, computers were absolutely not visual things. In the first computer I used, its only form of IO [input/ output] was a paper tape reader and punch and a tele-printer. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="software-technology" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=software-technology">Software Technology</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2019-12-06 17:11:42"> <p class="date">December 6, 2019</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://www.news-gazette.com/business/entrepreneurs/beyond-the-boardroom-stephen-wolfram/article_3153b61e-0fcb-56d1-9e1d-f375fa100a84.html' target='_blank'>Interview by Jeff D’Alessio, <em>The News-Gazette</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2019/12/06/what-is-the-worst-job-you-ever-had/">What is the worst job you ever had?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>I haven&#8217;t really had standard kinds of job-with-a-boss types of jobs. I&#8217;ve been a CEO for more than half my life, and before that I was a professor for a while.</p> <p>As it happens, the last class I taught as a professor, back in 1988, was the only undergraduate course I ever taught. I enjoyed the material, but I was disappointed that most of the students didn&#8217;t seem to share my enthusiasm.</p> <p>At the end of the semester, I had a little party for the students. They didn&#8217;t say much. But someone I worked with brought in copies of an article that just appeared about me with the title &#8220;Physics Wiz Goes Into Biz&#8221;. The students dutifully read the article, then one young chap says &#8220;With all this going on, why the heck are you teaching college?&#8221; I explained that this would probably be my last time doing that.</p> <p>To be fair, many years later, I heard from some of the students in that class, who didn&#8217;t seem to think it was as much of a disaster as I did.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="I haven&#8217;t really had standard kinds of job-with-a-boss types of jobs. I&#8217;ve been a CEO for more than half my life, and before that I was a professor for a while. As it happens, the last class I taught as a professor, back in 1988, was the only undergraduate course I ever taught. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> I haven’t really had standard kinds of job-with-a-boss types of jobs. I’ve been a CEO for more than half my life, and before that I was a professor for a while. As it happens, the last class I taught as a professor, back in 1988, was the only undergraduate course I ever taught. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project education personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2019-12-06 17:24:18"> <p class="date">December 6, 2019</p> <p class="asker">From: Interview by Jeff D’Alessio, <em>The News-Gazette</em> (unpublished)</p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2019/12/06/whats-the-most-beneficial-college-class-youve-taken/">What’s the most beneficial college class you’ve taken?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>My college experience (at Oxford University) was rather nonstandard. I went to college fairly young (age 16), but was already doing physics research, etc. The way the Oxford system worked at the time, one was only studying one subject (physics, in my case) and one didn&#8217;t actually have to go to lectures. I tried going for the first few days I was there, but it didn&#8217;t last. </p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="My college experience (at Oxford University) was rather nonstandard. I went to college fairly young (age 16), but was already doing physics research, etc. The way the Oxford system worked at the time, one was only studying one subject (physics, in my case) and one didn&#8217;t actually have to go to lectures. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> My college experience (at Oxford University) was rather nonstandard. I went to college fairly young (age 16), but was already doing physics research, etc. The way the Oxford system worked at the time, one was only studying one subject (physics, in my case) and one didn’t actually have to go to lectures. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="education" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=education">Education</a> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2019-12-18 17:24:54"> <p class="date">December 18, 2019</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://guykawasaki.com/stephen-wolfram-remarkable-people/' target='_blank'>Interview by Guy Kawasaki, <em>Remarkable People Podcast</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2019/12/18/what-was-it-like-to-grow-up-in-england-in-the-60s/">What was it like to grow up in England in the ’60s?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>I don&#8217;t know. I thought that I was a typical growing-up-in-the-&rsquo;60s kid in England. I got really interested in space because space was a thing that was happening at that time, and that was a very American-oriented thing. In England at that time, the US seemed like a pretty far-off place. I think at any given time in history there&#8217;s a most exciting thing that&#8217;s going on. In the 1960s, that was space, so 50 years ago, I was following the Apollo 11 landing and all this kind of thing. I got interested from that in how does this all work, and that got me interested in physics, so I started reading books about physics and so on and I discovered this amazing fact: that you could just go to a library and find all these books and start learning stuff and there wasn&#8217;t really any constraint.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="I don&#8217;t know. I thought that I was a typical growing-up-in-the-&rsquo;60s kid in England. I got really interested in space because space was a thing that was happening at that time, and that was a very American-oriented thing. In England at that time, the US seemed like a pretty far-off place. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> I don’t know. I thought that I was a typical growing-up-in-the-’60s kid in England. I got really interested in space because space was a thing that was happening at that time, and that was a very American-oriented thing. In England at that time, the US seemed like a pretty far-off place. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2019-12-18 17:28:58"> <p class="date">December 18, 2019</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://guykawasaki.com/stephen-wolfram-remarkable-people/' target='_blank'>Interview by Guy Kawasaki, <em>Remarkable People Podcast</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2019/12/18/growing-up-did-you-play-any-sports-were-you-just-a-nerd/">Growing up, did you play any sports? Were you just a nerd?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>I didn&#8217;t do sports. I actually had elaborate schemes for avoiding doing sports. For example, cricket was a big thing, and the few times I ended up playing cricket I discovered that cricket has this thing called overs: when the whole field is reflected, and people change their positions, perhaps because they&#8217;re getting so damn bored standing around. I discovered that there were these positions that were invariant with respect to those over things, so you could just stay in one place and hang out there.</p> <p>I remember the one time a friend of mine got me to be in some sort of cricket team-type thing, I discovered that&#8230; in cricket, you&#8217;re supposed to throw a ball in this overhand crazy thing where it&#8217;s very hard to get it to aim correctly, but if you just roll the ball along the ground and line it up, you can actually get it to go more-or-less in the right direction. I did that once, and the person who was batting, the ball just slid underneath their bat and got them out.</p> <p>They were like, &#8220;You can&#8217;t do that&#8221;. &#8220;Is it against the rules to throw the ball along the ground?&#8221; &#8220;No, it&#8217;s not, but&#8230;&#8221; this person said with great emotion&#8230; &#8220;it&#8217;s not cricket&#8221;. That&#8217;s a phrase that&#8217;s commonly used: &#8220;That&#8217;s not cricket&#8221;. I actually got to hear it in real life in a relevant setting, just once.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="I didn&#8217;t do sports. I actually had elaborate schemes for avoiding doing sports. For example, cricket was a big thing, and the few times I ended up playing cricket I discovered that cricket has this thing called overs: when the whole field is reflected, and people change their positions, perhaps because they&#8217;re getting so damn bored standing around. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> I didn’t do sports. I actually had elaborate schemes for avoiding doing sports. For example, cricket was a big thing, and the few times I ended up playing cricket I discovered that cricket has this thing called overs: when the whole field is reflected, and people change their positions, perhaps because they’re getting so damn bored standing around. <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2019-12-18 17:36:39"> <p class="date">December 18, 2019</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://guykawasaki.com/stephen-wolfram-remarkable-people/' target='_blank'>Interview by Guy Kawasaki, <em>Remarkable People Podcast</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2019/12/18/is-it-true-that-you-had-difficulty-learning-arithmetic-in-school/">Is it true that you had difficulty learning arithmetic in school?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>Oh yeah. I was terrible at arithmetic. I found it boring. In one of these educational lessons about education, when I was seven or something, there was always this game of who can do arithmetic facts, and I discovered that there&#8217;s only one fact that you needed to know to win that game most of the time, which is that seven times eight is 56. That was the one fact nobody else would know. But I never learned the other ones. I have a decent memory, so I remember roughly when I learned six times nine. I think I learned it in my 40s&#8230;</p> <p>I never found it terribly interesting. Occasionally you&#8217;d need to work out six times nine. Okay, I can figure it out. It takes a few seconds to figure it out, but it was something where&#8230; I don&#8217;t really have a great excuse. It was something that I never found that interesting.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="Oh yeah. I was terrible at arithmetic. I found it boring. In one of these educational lessons about education, when I was seven or something, there was always this game of who can do arithmetic facts, and I discovered that there&#8217;s only one fact that you needed to know to win that game most of the time, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> Oh yeah. I was terrible at arithmetic. I found it boring. In one of these educational lessons about education, when I was seven or something, there was always this game of who can do arithmetic facts, and I discovered that there’s only one fact that you needed to know to win that game most of the time, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2019-12-18 19:12:48"> <p class="date">December 18, 2019</p> <p class="asker">From: <a href='https://guykawasaki.com/stephen-wolfram-remarkable-people/' target='_blank'>Interview by Guy Kawasaki, <em>Remarkable People Podcast</em></a></p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2019/12/18/who-were-your-heroes-when-you-were-at-eton/">Who were your heroes when you were at Eton?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>I wasn&#8217;t really a very hero-oriented character. I didn&#8217;t really have&#8230; I mean, I wanted to be a physicist at that time. I knew about a bunch of the famous physicists of then and the famous physicists of before then. I started meeting those people by the time I was 14, 15 years old. As soon as you start meeting people, the whole concept of a distant hero disappears. I was like, &#8220;These are people. Some of them seem to know what they&#8217;re talking about. They seem smart&#8221;. Some of them didn&#8217;t seem so smart.</p> <p>I don&#8217;t think I ever really had a&#8230; It&#8217;s bad. It&#8217;s one of those deficits. No, I didn&#8217;t really have particularly a&#8230; I also didn&#8217;t really have a role model. I wanted to sort of generically be a physicist, and that was kind of a generic role model.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="I wasn&#8217;t really a very hero-oriented character. I didn&#8217;t really have&#8230; I mean, I wanted to be a physicist at that time. I knew about a bunch of the famous physicists of then and the famous physicists of before then. I started meeting those people by the time I was 14, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a>"> I wasn’t really a very hero-oriented character. I didn’t really have… I mean, I wanted to be a physicist at that time. I knew about a bunch of the famous physicists of then and the famous physicists of before then. I started meeting those people by the time I was 14, <a href="#more" class="more chevron-after">Read more</a> </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> <div class="project personal-history" data-position="normal" data-date="2020-03-31 15:31:54"> <p class="date">March 31, 2020</p> <p class="asker">From: Jai Preston</p> <h2 class="projectname"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/2020/03/31/how-early-on-did-you-notice-this-part-of-your-character-that-is-so-obsessed-with-uncharted-territory/">How early on did you notice this part of your character that is so obsessed with uncharted territory?</a></h2> <div class="introtext" data-text="<p>Looking back it&#8217;s pretty clear I was always that way. But my self image was just that I &#8220;did things&#8221;. I didn&#8217;t really pay attention to the fact that they were things that hadn&#8217;t been done before. In fact, I don&#8217;t think I really internalized that until I had to go to effort explaining to other people why they should care about the organizational things I was trying to build &#8230; which happened in my mid-20s.</p> <a class='less' href='#close'>Close answer »</a>" data-truncate="Looking back it&#8217;s pretty clear I was always that way. But my self image was just that I &#8220;did things&#8221;. I didn&#8217;t really pay attention to the fact that they were things that hadn&#8217;t been done before. In fact, I don&#8217;t think I really internalized that until I had to go to effort explaining to other people why they should care about the organizational things I was trying to build &#8230;"> Looking back it’s pretty clear I was always that way. But my self image was just that I “did things”. I didn’t really pay attention to the fact that they were things that hadn’t been done before. In fact, I don’t think I really internalized that until I had to go to effort explaining to other people why they should care about the organizational things I was trying to build … </div> <div class="text"> <a class="tag" data-tag="personal-history" href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/main/?c=personal-history">Personal History</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <footer id="footer"> <div class="inner"><a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/contact/">Contact</a> <span class="pipe">|</span> © Stephen Wolfram, LLC</div> </footer> <script src="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/questions/wp-content/themes/questions/js/scripts.js"></script> </main>  <div id ="IPstripe-wrap"></div> <script src="/common/stripe/stripe.en.js"></script>  </body> </html>

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Q&A with Stephen Wolfram