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Wolfram's eulogy will be titled: "A life wasted on cellular automata"

psychoslave 8mo ago
Thanks for the laugh. :D
stabbles 8mo ago
Whenever Wolfram brings up cellular automata again, I think of John Conway who got tired of being known for Conway's Game of Life.
libertine 8mo ago
That seems quite a bold eulogy, no? Isn't he well accomplished, and prolific throughout his life?
- ajb 8mo ago
  He is. But he's also convinced that cellular automata will replace the standard model as the foundation of physics, and that he will therefore be known to history as the third founder of physics after Newton and Einstein. /s
- TimorousBestie 8mo ago
  Given that he’s known for priority disputes and legal action over who did what and when, that “well-accomplished” bit should have an asterisk next to it. http://bactra.org/reviews/wolfram/ http://bactra.org/reviews/wolfram/ is still a classic.
- meindnoch 8mo ago
  Is he? His last 30 years can be summarized as: "Look at these pictures of cellular automata! I predict that the world can be described with cellular automata like these!"
- Suppafly 8mo ago
  Every HN post the mentions Wolfram eventually just turns into a hate on Wolfram session. I don't really get it.
the__alchemist 8mo ago
What topic will yours have been wasted on?
coke12 8mo ago
I don’t know, I’ve been involved in computer science for several decades now and cellular automata hasn’t really lost its charm. Seems like a cool thing to dedicate your life to!
rdtsc 8mo ago
It's his life. I can certainly look at many other lives and say they are lot of more wasted than his. Heck, he already created Mathematica, if he wanted to go and lay on the beach for the rest of this life, it would still be a lot less wasted than what many other people have accomplished in related domains. Yeah, I don't like his arrogance, it's very grating to read. And perhaps nothing revolutionary is going to end up as a result of all the play with cellular automata but it's still interesting. Not as a rule, but sometimes discoveries in history are made by wild and wacky directions of research.

Thanks for the laugh. :D

Whenever Wolfram brings up cellular automata again, I think of John Conway who got tired of being known for Conway's Game of Life.

libertine 8mo ago

That seems quite a bold eulogy, no? Isn't he well accomplished, and prolific throughout his life?

ajb 8mo ago
He is. But he's also convinced that cellular automata will replace the standard model as the foundation of physics, and that he will therefore be known to history as the third founder of physics after Newton and Einstein. /s
TimorousBestie 8mo ago
Given that he’s known for priority disputes and legal action over who did what and when, that “well-accomplished” bit should have an asterisk next to it. http://bactra.org/reviews/wolfram/ http://bactra.org/reviews/wolfram/ is still a classic.
meindnoch 8mo ago
Is he? His last 30 years can be summarized as: "Look at these pictures of cellular automata! I predict that the world can be described with cellular automata like these!"
Suppafly 8mo ago
Every HN post the mentions Wolfram eventually just turns into a hate on Wolfram session. I don't really get it.

the__alchemist 8mo ago

What topic will yours have been wasted on?

coke12 8mo ago

I don’t know, I’ve been involved in computer science for several decades now and cellular automata hasn’t really lost its charm. Seems like a cool thing to dedicate your life to!

rdtsc 8mo ago

It's his life. I can certainly look at many other lives and say they are lot of more wasted than his. Heck, he already created Mathematica, if he wanted to go and lay on the beach for the rest of this life, it would still be a lot less wasted than what many other people have accomplished in related domains. Yeah, I don't like his arrogance, it's very grating to read. And perhaps nothing revolutionary is going to end up as a result of all the play with cellular automata but it's still interesting. Not as a rule, but sometimes discoveries in history are made by wild and wacky directions of research.