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I don't disagree with you that paradigm shifts are rare, but to dismiss then out of hand as simply not being the way we do science is indeed naive. We need bot
by forgot_again 6y ago
I don't disagree with you that paradigm shifts are rare, but to dismiss then out of hand as simply not being the way we do science is indeed naive.
We need both sorts of thinkers in science: those who want to make the important incremental improvements and those who seek entirely new ways of looking at problems.
- mellosouls 6y agoYes we do - but it's important that we don't prioritise the rich, famous, connected businessmen and their internet fanboys trumpeting their vanity projects over the obscure patent clerks (and equivalent) doing the actual hard, brave work of letting their theories speak for themselves.
- forgot_again 6y agoOf course Wolfram is rich and famous precisely because he has had a lot of good ideas. That's not to be discounted. It's also important to not immediately discount Wolfram's work simply because he is wealthy and successful and not a formal member of academia. However it seems that some are personally threatened or dislike Wolfram because of who he is which triggers a knee jerk reaction against his work. I am not an internet fanboy of Wolfram's, I'm only pushing back a bit against the idea that incremental progress upon the scientific mainstream is the only path forward.
- mellosouls 6y agoNo, to be clear, I wasn't including you in the internet fanboys. I and others are just suggesting Wolfram go through the same process as everybody else instead of using his power to subvert it. That isn't motivated by being threatened, just by a sense of fairness. As for his good ideas, absolutely - but they are all in business and unconnected to the grand theories he is now promoting - his prior physics experience is junior and long ago, and certainly doesn't warrant special treatment.