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Say what you want about Wolfram, he's a brilliant guy. Brilliant people often have strange quirks and egos, but that's just a part of being them. Also, this acc
by BucketSort 8y ago
Say what you want about Wolfram, he's a brilliant guy. Brilliant people often have strange quirks and egos, but that's just a part of being them. Also, this account has only posted links about Wolfram. Is it him or an assistant?
- jhall1468 8y agoLinus Torvalds is quirky and has an ego. Steven Wolfram is one of the most arrogant people I've ever read. It comes through in virtually every aspect of his writing. It's understood that people who are exceptional smart aren't always socially pleasant, but Wolfram is trying to raise that bar by quite a bit.
- BucketSort 8y agoCould he be autistic or something? Usually people would know how they would be perceived if they were well socialized. In any case, it doesn't bother me. He thinks his work is of the utmost importance and wants to be in the annals of mathematics alongside Newton, Einstein, etc. He won't be, but let him have his fun. He's at least doing interesting things, unlike these unbearable celebrities that are incredibly dull, but everyone fawns over. I hereby transfer the right of ego from the mainstream celebs to the scientists.
- lazyjones 8y agoRelevant: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/06/you-dont-understand-ordinary-people.html http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/06/you-dont-understand-ord... ;-) By the way, he is in the annals of particle physics...
- incognition 8y agoAwesome letter, thank you. Feynman was a genius in more than one way. In a way, all great teachers have the ability to see into us.
- BucketSort 8y agoI wonder how Wolfram received this letter. It's an amazing historical letter.
- dsr_ 8y agoHe might be, but none of the spectrum people I know have an ego like Wolfram's.
- mistrial9 8y agoIn an elite hackers setting, in an offsite camp in the Santa Cruz mountains long ago, this Wolfram character bolted around like a bull in a china shop, finding people to give orders to, basically, and blowing his own horn at many opportunities. It was quite a contrast to the intense hack sessions and co-teaching that was going on at the same time, while serious nerds did what serious nerds do... The news that he screwed dozens of programmers out of the proceeds of Mathematica (1990), exactly matched the in-person behavior. This was before the net was the way it is.. ymmv
- techgipper 8y agoWatching his livestreams, he seems like a reasonable guy focused on real work designing a programming language and software. Not sure what you're alluding to in 1990, guess it's been disappeared from the web.
- hjk05 8y agoWho cares if he’s arrogant? Linux is a mean bastard and Stallman is a weirdo who eats stuff of his feet during interviews. None of these people are well balanced great guys you’d take to the pub to watch football, but that’s not why their impressive in what they do and accomplish.
- jhall1468 8y agoLinus is mean, but aware of it and actively working on it. Stallman is harmlessly weird. Wolfram thinks he's the smartest person on the planet when he's objectively not. You are correct in that these are not the reasons they are impressive. It's the reason (in Linus and Wolframs case) they aren't particularly good people. You should have to suffer brilliant assholes.
- fooster 8y ago> Wolfram thinks he's the smartest person on the planet when he's objectively not. That was definitive. How is he objectively not? How are you defining the smartest person on the planet. By what criteria?
- kyberias 8y agoHow is he arrogant? Here he is clearly proud of his personal infrastructure and wants to share it with the world. What is arrogant about that?
- lkuty 8y agohttp://www.aleph.se/andart/archives/2009/04/monumental_egos.html http://www.aleph.se/andart/archives/2009/04/monumental_egos.... "I suggest we call the unit of ego the Wolfram"