3 ms·
The guy might be a crank, but I don't think that is the real reason for vitriol. His views are the most plausible version of materialism, but they are so obvio
by yters 9y ago
The guy might be a crank, but I don't think that is the real reason for vitriol. His views are the most plausible version of materialism, but they are so obviously wrong that it casts materialism in the same crank light. So, the materialist establishment works hard to distance themselves from him.
- jacquesm 9y agoI think a good part of the vitriol stems from Wolfram taking open credit for other people's work.
- xrange 9y agoIs there a particularly egregious example that we can link to (since the book is on line)? Or maybe someone has an annotated version which has better references to prior work? https://www.wolframscience.com/nks/ https://www.wolframscience.com/nks/
- jacquesm 9y agoRule 110. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/scientific-credit-where-its-due/171481.article https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/scientific-credit-... Apologies for the link quality.
- yters 9y agoSteve Jobs did that more than most, so did Thomas Edison, yet we venerate them for doing so. There must be a different reason people dislike Wolfram. He's obviously a brilliant guy, his premises make a lot of sense and he's been much more successful business wise than most mathematicians. I'd think he'd be a poster child for HN, not an object of hate.