You like Stephen Wolfram, right?

I mean, if he’s to be believed, he has reinvented physics, not to mention philosophy.

How could you not like such a thinker?

Well... it turns out that there are plenty of people who don’t like Stephen Wolfram... or his physics... or his philosophy.

Here are four criticisms of Stephen Wolfram I regularly hear...

...and here’s why these criticisms, though they hint at uncomfortable truths, nonetheless miss the mark.

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Stephen Wolfram:
• Stephen Wolfram’s web site https://www.stephenwolfram.com/
• Timeline https://www.stephenwolfram.com/scrapb...
• TED talks https://www.ted.com/speakers/stephen_...
• List of podcast appearances https://lasttheory.com/list/best-wolf...
• List of video appearances https://lasttheory.com/list/best-wolf...

Stephen Wolfram’s claims:
• He has a path to the fundamental theory of physics https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2...
• He has an answer to the question: what is an observer? https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2...
• He has an answer to the question: what is consciousness? https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2...
• He has an answer to the question: why does the universe exist? https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2...
• He seems surprised at how little discussion there has been of his answer to the question: why does the universe exist?    • Stephen Wolfram: Complexity and the F...  

Some of the things Stephen Wolfram created:
• 1987 Wolfram Research https://www.wolfram.com/company/
• 1988 Mathematica https://www.wolfram.com/mathematica/
• 2009 Wolfram Alpha https://www.wolframalpha.com/
• 2014 Wolfram Language https://www.wolfram.com/language/
• 2020 Wolfram Physics https://www.wolframphysics.org/

Other people involved in the Wolfram Physics Project:
• Jonathan Gorard https://www.wolframphysics.org/people...
• Max Piskunov https://maxitg.notion.site/Max-Piskun...

Other people mentioned in this episode:
• Freeman Dyson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman... – quote https://www.newsweek.com/great-minds-...
• Sean Carroll https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/ – quote https://www.scientificamerican.com/ar... – Mindscape podcast https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/... – episode #155 with Stephen Wolfram https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/...
• Katie Mack https://www.astrokatie.com/ – quote https://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...
• Adam Mastroianni https://www.adammastroianni.com/ – The rise and fall of peer review https://www.experimental-history.com/...
• Father Strickland – quote https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/12...

Brilliant people of the past:
• Leonardo da Vinci https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard...
• Gregor Mendel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_...
• Nikola Tesla https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_...
• Aristotle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle
• Galileo Galilei https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo...
• Isaac Newton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_N...
• Albert Einstein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_...
• Max Born https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Born
• Paul Dirac https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dirac
• Werner Heisenberg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_...
• Erwin Schrödinger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_S...
• Wolfgang Pauli https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgan...

Other episodes of The Last Theory mentioned:
• Why has there been no progress in physics since 1973?    • Why has there been no progress in phy...  
• Peer review is suffocating science    • Peer review is suffocating science  

Reference:
• Wolfram Research has over 800 employees https://pitchbook.com/profiles/compan...

Images:
• Freeman Dyson 2005 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... by ioerror https://www.flickr.com/photos/ioerror/ licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...

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The Last Theory https://lasttheory.com/ is hosted by Mark Jeffery https://markjeffery.com/ founder of Open Web Mind https://www.openwebmind.com/

Prefer to listen to the audio? Search for The Last Theory in your podcast player, or listen at https://lasttheory.com/podcast/058-in...

The full article is at https://lasttheory.com/article/in-def...

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