4 ms·

On a livestream the other day, Stephan Wolfram said he stopped publishing through academic journals in the 1980's because he found it far more efficient to just

by breck 2y ago

On a livestream the other day, Stephan Wolfram said he stopped publishing through academic journals in the 1980's because he found it far more efficient to just put stuff online. (And his blog is incredible: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/all-by-date/ https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/all-by-date/) A genius who figured it academic publishing had gone to shit decades ahead of everyone else. P.S. We built the future of academic publishing, and it's an order of magnitude better than anything else out there.

jordigh 2y ago
Genius? The one who came up with a new kind of science?
- breck 2y ago
  Do you think judging someone by your least favorite work of their's is a good strategy? Do you also say, "Newton a genius? The one who tried to turn lead into gold?"
  - jordigh 2y ago
    He still parades that around as his magnum opus in his latest blog post: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2024/08/five-most-productive-years-what-happened-and-whats-next/ https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2024/08/five-most-produc... Yeah, I think it's fair to judge him by it.
    - breck 2y ago
      Fair enough. Like all of his work, I thought it was an incredible book, if you just randomly sample 10% of it. I never understood why he doesn't cut more, as he has genius ideas that get really watered down with lots of less relevant details. I would love if he started doing 1 page tldr's for all of his works.
wahern 2y ago
He created his own peer reviewed academic journal and founded a corporation to publish it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_Systems_(journal) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_Systems_(journal) That's a little different than just putting stuff online.
- breck 2y ago
  Oh wow, that's amazing. I missed that. This is incredible: https://www.complex-systems.com/archives/ https://www.complex-systems.com/archives/ "Submissions for Complex Systems journal may be made by webform or email. There are no publication charges. Papers submitted to Complex Systems should present results in a manner accessible to a wide readership." So well done. Bravo.
- paulpauper 2y ago
  But it's not a reputable journal at all. An Impact Factor: 1.2 makes it close to useless.
DiscourseFan 2y ago
If we were all Stephan Wolfram, perhaps that would be possible. But very few academics have either the notoriety or the funds to self-publish and ensure their work isn't stolen in their highly competitive industry. There is a lot of academic work that is very obscure and only becomes important later, sometimes decades later, maybe even centuries, to someone else doing equally obscure work, but it always goes somewhere, and the goal is not to "move fast and break things," but create bodies of scholarship that last far beyond any specific capitalist industry or company.
- breck 2y ago
  > ensure their work isn't stolen in their highly competitive industry. If you published your work online backed by git with hashes with a free public service like GitHub, how could someone steal it? If you are an academic and don't know git, why can't you pick up "Version Control with Git" from your library or buy a used copy for $5 and spend a couple days to learn it? > the goal is not to "move fast and break things," Who said that was the goal? Why would you want to remain wrong longer? If you want to move slower, why not take slower walks in the woods versus adding unnecessary bureaucracy?
  - DiscourseFan 2y ago
    >Why would you want to remain wrong longer? It's not about "remaining wrong longer," academics don't care that much about being right. Opinions on works change throughout the years, and its hard to keep track of who did what if nobody can make proper attributions. >If you published your work online backed by git with hashes with a free public service like GitHub, how could someone steal it? I'll tell you something, because you have very much outed yourself as a dweeb with this comment: there are physical libraries in the world that are over a thousand years old. GitHub is 16 years old. I would much rather have my work stored in a physical library.

by breck 2y ago

jordigh 2y ago

Genius? The one who came up with a new kind of science?

breck 2y ago
Do you think judging someone by your least favorite work of their's is a good strategy? Do you also say, "Newton a genius? The one who tried to turn lead into gold?"
- jordigh 2y ago
  He still parades that around as his magnum opus in his latest blog post: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2024/08/five-most-productive-years-what-happened-and-whats-next/ https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2024/08/five-most-produc... Yeah, I think it's fair to judge him by it.
  - breck 2y ago
    Fair enough. Like all of his work, I thought it was an incredible book, if you just randomly sample 10% of it. I never understood why he doesn't cut more, as he has genius ideas that get really watered down with lots of less relevant details. I would love if he started doing 1 page tldr's for all of his works.

wahern 2y ago

He created his own peer reviewed academic journal and founded a corporation to publish it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_Systems_(journal) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_Systems_(journal) That's a little different than just putting stuff online.

breck 2y ago
Oh wow, that's amazing. I missed that. This is incredible: https://www.complex-systems.com/archives/ https://www.complex-systems.com/archives/ "Submissions for Complex Systems journal may be made by webform or email. There are no publication charges. Papers submitted to Complex Systems should present results in a manner accessible to a wide readership." So well done. Bravo.
paulpauper 2y ago
But it's not a reputable journal at all. An Impact Factor: 1.2 makes it close to useless.

DiscourseFan 2y ago

If we were all Stephan Wolfram, perhaps that would be possible. But very few academics have either the notoriety or the funds to self-publish and ensure their work isn't stolen in their highly competitive industry. There is a lot of academic work that is very obscure and only becomes important later, sometimes decades later, maybe even centuries, to someone else doing equally obscure work, but it always goes somewhere, and the goal is not to "move fast and break things," but create bodies of scholarship that last far beyond any specific capitalist industry or company.

breck 2y ago
> ensure their work isn't stolen in their highly competitive industry. If you published your work online backed by git with hashes with a free public service like GitHub, how could someone steal it? If you are an academic and don't know git, why can't you pick up "Version Control with Git" from your library or buy a used copy for $5 and spend a couple days to learn it? > the goal is not to "move fast and break things," Who said that was the goal? Why would you want to remain wrong longer? If you want to move slower, why not take slower walks in the woods versus adding unnecessary bureaucracy?
- DiscourseFan 2y ago
  >Why would you want to remain wrong longer? It's not about "remaining wrong longer," academics don't care that much about being right. Opinions on works change throughout the years, and its hard to keep track of who did what if nobody can make proper attributions. >If you published your work online backed by git with hashes with a free public service like GitHub, how could someone steal it? I'll tell you something, because you have very much outed yourself as a dweeb with this comment: there are physical libraries in the world that are over a thousand years old. GitHub is 16 years old. I would much rather have my work stored in a physical library.