Stephen Wolfram
CEO, Wolfram Research Inc.

Stephen Wolfram:
A New Kind of Science

Edited by Peter Y. Chou

Monday, February 10, 2003, 7:30 PM, Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University:
Paradigm shift? Kuhnian revolution— Copernicus, Newton, Darwin, Einstein, and now Wolfram? All of this was in the air as Stephen Wolfram, inventor of the program Mathematica, talked about his new book A New Kind of Science to a packed audience at Stanford. The talk was sponsored by Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning (SCIL). Wolfram published his first scientific paper at age 15, received his Ph.D. from Caltech at 20, and was the youngest recipient of the "genius" MacArthur Award at 21. He spent 10 years writing this book on how complex things in nature (snowflakes, shape of leaves, fluid turbulence, geological fractures, mollusk shells, etc.) could be generated using simple rules that could be emulated by computer graphics. Wolfram's lecture was followed by an extended Q & A session from an enthusiastic audience. Many students went on the stage for more Q&A's and autographs of his book. Wolfram autographed my program boldly and dated it "Feb 10, 2003" and we exchanged business cards. He was most generous with his time, answering more questions from students before leaving at 10:15 pm. Here is the Stanford Daily (2/11/2003) report of Wolfram's lecture and some web links I've compiled on Stephen Wolfram and his revolutionary ideas of science.

RESOURCES ON STEPHEN WOLFRAM: (from Wolfram's business card)
Stephen Wolfram: Official Web Site
(Bio, Publications, Q & A, Mathematica, Interviews, Scrapbook, Wolfram Research, Appearances)
BOOK: A New Kind of Science (Published: May 14, 2002)
(Summary, Table of Contents, Preface, Sample Pages, Index, Downloadable Programs,
Q&A, References & Historical, Media Coverage, Future Initiatives)
Mathematica: The Way the World Calculates
(What's New in 4.2?, Key Elements, Tour of Features, User Experience, Documentation, Reviews)
Wolfram Research, Inc.
(Products, Services, Solutions, Resource Library, News, Online Store, Our Company)

ON WOLFRAM'S BOOK: A New Kind of Science
Stephen Wolfram: A New Kind of Science
(Amazon.com with 122 sample pages from book)
Book Reviews on Wolfram's A New Kind of Science
(260 book reviews from Amazon.com customers)
A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram
(Barnes & Noble with 29 book reviews from customers, First Chapter, Table of Contents)
Reflections on Stephen Wolfram's "A New Kind of Science"
(by Ray Kurzweil, KurzweilAI.net, May 2002)
Is the Universe a Computer? (By Steven Weinberg, New York Review of Books, Oct. 24, 2002)
A Mathematician Looks at Wolfram's New Kind of Science
(By Lawrence Gray, Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Vol. 50, 200-211, Feb. 2003)
DOING SCIENCE: Is the Universe a Universal Computer?
(By Melanie Mitchell, Science Magazine, Vol. 298, No. 5591, 65-68, Oct. 4, 2002)
Not Quite Copernicus (By John Derbyshire, National Review, Sept. 16, 2002)
Book Review: A New Kind of Science, by Stephen Wolfram
(By Ray Girvan, Scientific Computing World, July-August 2002)
Computing Science: The World According to Wolfram
(By Brian Hayes, American Scientist, July-August 2002)
Critical Review of "A New Kind of Science" (By David Drysdale, July 12, 2002)
Notes on "A New Kind of Science" (By David Drysdale, July 12, 2002)
Cosmic computer— new philosophy to explain the universe
(By Keay Davidson, San Francisco Chronicle, July 1, 2002)
Wolfram on Cellular Automata; A Clear and Very Personal Exposition
(By Leo P. Kadanoff, Physics Today, Vol. 55, Issue 7, July 2002)
Book Review: "A New Kind of Science" by Stephen Wolfram
(By Henry Cohn, Mathematical Association of America Online, June 16, 2002)
The Big Rewrite: Stephen Wolfram explains everything but the perfect cappuccino
(By Margaret Werthheim, LA Weekly, June 7-13, 2002)
Review of Stephen Wolfram's A New Kind of Science (ANKS)
(By John Kadvany, Foundations of Computer Science Mailing List, June 5, 2002)
The Man Who Cracked The Code to Everything... (By Steven Levy, Wired, Vol. 10, June 2002)
The science of everything: The emperor's new theory (The Economist, May 30, 2002)
Stephen Wolfram's Simple Science (By Michael Arndt, Business Week, May 17, 2002)
Is this man bigger than Newton and Darwin?
(By Graham Farmelo, connected.telegraphy.co.uk, May 15, 2002)
The Next Newton? (By David Appell, Salon.com, May 15, 2002)
Stephen Wolfram's A New Kind of Science: A Complexity Scientist's Reaction
(By Ben Goertzel, Dynamical Psychology, 2002)
A Reclusive Kind of Science (By David H. Bailey, Computing in Science and Engineering)
God, Stephen Wolfram, and Everything Else
(By Michael S. Malone, Forbes ASAP, Nov. 27, 2000)
Collection of Reviews of A New Kind of Science
(By W. Edwin Clark, Mathematics Department, University of South Florida)

WOLFRAM ARTICLES FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES:
QUESTIONS FOR STEPHEN WOLFRAM: Complexity Made Simple
(By LOCH ADAMSON, July 7, 2002)
BOOK REVIEW LETTERS: What's the Big Idea? (By Denis Donnelly, June 30, 2002)
SCIENCE LETTERS: Questioning 'New Kind of Science' (By DAVID McMAHON, June 18, 2002)
WEEK IN REVIEW: What's So New in a Newfangled Science?
(By GEORGE JOHNSON, June 16, 2002)
SCIENCE: Did This Man Just Rewrite Science? (By DENNIS OVERBYE, June 11, 2002)
BOOK REVIEW: 'A New Kind of Science': You Know That Space-Time Thing? Never Mind
(By GEORGE JOHNSON, June 9, 2002)
ARTS: A Man Who Would Shake Up Science (By EDWARD ROTHSTEIN, May 11, 2002)
THE YEAR IN IDEAS: Transcending Equations (By JIM HOLT, Dec. 9, 2001)

OTHER RELATED ARTICLES:
THE SCIENCES OF COMPLEXITY: A KUHNIAN REVOLUTION IN SCIENCE?
(By Reiner Hedrich, Epistemologia Vol. 1 anno XXII [1999])
The Alan Turing Home Page (By Andrew Hodges, author of Alan Turing: the Enigma)
TUTORIAL NOTES: CELLULAR AUTOMATA
(By David G. Green, Charles Sturt University, 1993)
Evolving Cellular Automata (EvCA) Home Page
(EvCA group at Santa Fe Institute & Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Cellular Automata: Digital Worlds (By Alexander Schatten, Oct. 5, 1999)
Rudy Rucker's Home Page (Biography, Works, Online, Classes, Software Downloads)
Capow98: Cellular Automata & Electric Power
(Introduction, Download, Examples, Links, VRML, Participants)




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© Peter Y. Chou, WisdomPortal.com
P.O. Box 390707, Mountain View, CA 94039
email: peter@wisdomportal.com (2-11-2003)