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It's interesting with the sycophant outrage over criticism of Wolfram. With arguments ala "criticise his work not his person". But if you actually follow his wo
by tokai 5y ago
It's interesting with the sycophant outrage over criticism of Wolfram. With arguments ala "criticise his work not his person". But if you actually follow his work (scientific work, not his business) it is clear that there is a lot to critique, but not in a useful sense. Scholarly reviews of A New Kind of Science were universally negative. The usefulness of what he proposes is doubtful and it is unoriginal. He is unable to engage with other scientists in a way that furthers his program. And he is know to use academic shadow writers. I can't wrap my head a around why anyone would defend a self-centred entrepreneur that purchase the scientific relevance he couldn't work up organically (Sending thousands of copies of your own book to academic libraries all over the world is very much not in the spirit of science).
- TazeTSchnitzel 5y agoWith HN's obsession with “founders” of startups, it's perhaps not surprising that Wolfram gets so much sympathy here. It's hero worship. I think Wolfram is a victim of his own success. His achievements in software have let him avoid the necessary humility in being an academic.
- sjg007 5y agoNeural networks were basically negatively critiqued for decades. I think there is something to cellular automata and there's definitely a relationship between CAs and DNNs that is unexplored.
- tokai 5y agoYou NN 'example' is no applicable. Scientist haven't been discussing Wolframs ideas for decades, like they have with NNs. They are not engaging with his research. Bcs there is nothing substantial to latch on to and discuss. Just Wolfram making grandiose claims, citing improperly, and doing what he can to only communicate through venues he control without being a part of the scientific communities of the subjects he claims to revolutionize. There might be a relationship between CAs and DNNs, but if you find it you can be sure that Wolfram will take the credit for it.
- sjg007 5y agoI am not sure where you have been but NNs were panned from the late 80s until 2012 basically. What I am saying that negative critiques mean very little if anything. CAs have also been around since the 1970s.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]