Stephen Wolfram Quotes

“All the wonders of our universe can in effect be captured by simple rules, yet there can be no way to know all the consequences of these rules, except in effect just to watch and see how they unfold.”

“It is perhaps a little humbling to discover that we as humans are in effect computationally no more capable than cellular automata with very simple rules. But the Principle of Computational Equivalence also implies that the same is ultimately true of our whole universe.”

“Cellular automata are discrete dynamical systems with simple construction but complex self-organizing behaviour.”

“Computational reducibility may well be the exception rather than the rule: Most physical questions may be answerable only through irreducible amounts of computation.”

“Cellular automata are mathematical models for complex natural systems containing large numbers of simple identical components with local interactions.”

“The fourth class [of cellular automata] is probably capable of universal computation, so that properties of its infinite time behaviour are undecidable.”

“Cellular automata may be considered as discrete dynamical systems. In almost all cases, cellular automaton evolution is irreversible.”

“I want to talk about a big topic here today: the quest for computable knowledge.”

“Somehow we have to organize—systematize—knowledge to the point that we can build on it—compute from it.”

“The big idea that we know pretty much existed by 20,000 BC was that you could just abstractly count objects, independent of what the objects were.”

“It was the beginning of the tradition of exact science as we know it.”

“The fourth class is probably capable of universal computation, so that properties of its infinite time behaviour are undecidable.”

“Human language lets us describe much more, but it isn't systematic—it doesn't allow us to go directly from our knowledge to computing new things.”

“It didn't take long before numbers and writing led to kings in Babylon making pretty broad censuses of people and commodities.”

“People had known that there were regularities to be seen if not on earth, at least in the heavens.”

“I am lucky enough to have a successful private company where I can do crazy projects.”

“If you look at most web phenomena — Google, Facebook — you only tend to know about them when they have gotten pretty big. We happened to launch with a big spike.”

“I'm a person who's only satisfied if I feel I'm being productive. I like figuring things out. I like making things. And I want to do as much of that as I can.”

“My big goal is to make what can be done with computation as broadly accessible as possible.”

“You want the human to have to specify as little as possible, by putting as much intelligence into the language as possible.”

“I've been lucky enough to build a consistent stack of technology and science over the course of about 35 years. I have built tools that have let me do science. And from the science I have understood things that have let me build more technology.”

“I don't view it as being clever. I view it as being a big pile of engineering.”

“Random kids can build things that only people with the fanciest tools could in the past.”