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30 links. 27 links to Wolfram and his products. 2 links to Minsky's work. 1 link to a mathematics geneology site (who was who's grad student). The math geneolog

• adharmad 11y ago
  His next book should be titled "The art of shameless self promotion". Feynman, Turing, Steve Jobs, Minsky...at least Wolfram is equal opportunity! In one of his blogs, he went as far as to compare NKOS with the Principia.
• ericjang 11y ago
  What I would give to have Marvin Minsky be resurrected via cryonics and have him read this article.
• xenophonf 11y ago
  Wolfram is pretty shameless, but I don't think you're being fair to him here. The links to Wolfram Alpha are no different from you or I linking to a Google search, and in context the references to Wolfram's _A New Kind of Science_ speaks to Minsky's influence on his work.
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• skewart 11y ago
  I haven't read the post. I came here first to look for comments about Stephen Wolfram being a shameless self-promoter. Was not disappointed. [edited to change original wording which I realize was a bit over the top, and perhaps came across as closer to an attack on Wolfram than a characterization of how he is perceived by many HN commenters.] It does seem like every Wolfram-related thread here has more than a couple of comments about how egotistical and self-aggrandizing he sounds. I sometimes wonder if Wolfram is aware of how he comes across to a lot of people. And if so, whether it's a deliberate strategy.
  • apsec112 11y ago
    "delusional egomaniacal douche canoe" Please don't use inflammatory rhetoric on HN. (This is not an endorsement of Wolfram.)
    • skewart 11y ago
      Honestly, thanks for pointing out that what I said sounded inflammatory. The general civility and appreciation for thoughtful, measured posts is one of the best things about HN. I don't want to disturb that culture - it's all to rare.
• dilap 11y ago
  Wolfram threads always fill up with comments like this, from people upset that he doesn't slosh out more credit to 3rd parties. But so what? We do ourselves a disservice to get so caught up in this social game. Wolfram isn't being nasty; he's just sharing his own personal recollections and ideas, often quite interesting. Where's the harm? Take the good, leave the social judgement aside.
  • daveguy 11y ago
    Well, you know, when you are eulogizing someone its generally courteous to talk more about that person than about yourself. When you are promoting your books and "science", be plagiarizing and criticize those who point it out. Just try to put it on pause for the eulogies.
    • mikeash 11y ago
      I totally agree. However, Wolfram is unlikely ever to read these comments, so they're kind of useless. It's one thing to confront somebody when they're being rude. That can be good. But it's pointless to pretend "confront" someone who isn't even here, especially when they're basically famous for it.
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• endlessvoid94 11y ago
  > This picture is from one of the last times I saw Marvin. His health was failing, but he was keen to talk. Having watched more than 35 years of my life, he wanted to tell me his assessment: “You really did it, Steve.” Well, so did you, Marvin! (I’m always “Stephen”, but somehow Americans of a certain age have a habit of calling me “Steve”.) Unreal. You're so great, Wolfram.
  • laichzeit0 11y ago
    Yeah this really irked me. He's reminiscing about someone who died and he really feels to need to validate his _own_ life's work. Who even knows if Minsky really said that.
• rweba 11y ago
  I really find myself disagreeing. Yes, I do believe Wolfram went overboard with his claims for "A New Kind of Science", but I don't think this very sweet blog post was in any way inappropriate. It's not rude to reference your own work when discussing someone else's, especially when you're showing how much they influenced you and were important to your growth.