Stephen Wolfram quotes
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Stephen Wolfram. (1959 - ). British-American computer scientist, physicist, mathematician, and businessman.
Contents
Time
“Time is the inexorable progress of computation. If we think about things in the world as being governed by rules, then what happens in the course of time is those rules get applied... The thing that changes through time is that we've applied these rules more and more and more times.”
- Source: Spoken by Stephen Wolfram in a video interview with Brian Keating recorded in the YouTube video ‘Stephen Wolfram | My Discovery Changes Everything’ published on channel ‘Dr. Brian Keating’ on 2024-01-19. Video offset 15:16. Online at https://youtu.be/c-RO3vM10Ok?si=i-XspeEtzqA3jPl9 retrieved 2024.
- See Also:
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes/Time
Computation
“Computation is just the following of rules...”
- Source: Spoken by Stephen Wolfram in a video interview with Brian Keating recorded in the YouTube video ‘Stephen Wolfram | My Discovery Changes Everything’ published on channel ‘Dr. Brian Keating’ on 2024-01-19. Video offset 20:38. Online at https://youtu.be/c-RO3vM10Ok?si=i-XspeEtzqA3jPl9 retrieved 2024.
- See Also:
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes/Computation
- Keywords: Computation_quotes Follow_quotes Rule_quotes
Heat and Temperature
“Heat is the randomized motion of molecules. Heat is a feature of the microscopic structure of matter. If matter wasn't made of molecules there wouldn't be heat in the same sense. And so the concept of temperature is a feature of a characterization of the amount of randomness in these molecules... It's just the average kinetic energy of molecules... That's what defines temperature.”
- Source: Spoken by Stephen Wolfram in a video interview with Brian Keating recorded in the YouTube video ‘Stephen Wolfram | My Discovery Changes Everything’ published on channel ‘Dr. Brian Keating’ on 2024-01-19. Video offset 21:39. Online at https://youtu.be/c-RO3vM10Ok?si=i-XspeEtzqA3jPl9 retrieved 2024.
- See Also:
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes/Heat_and_Temperature
Second Law of Thermodynamics
“The second law is essentially a computational statement of the fact that systems that start simple to describe will typically become complicated to describe. It's kind of like encryption. You're saying you start with that simple initial seed and then you run this thing and you get something which for all practical purposes looks random. That's what's happening in these systems. It doesn't have to do with molecules running around. It doesn't have to do with the specifics of temperature and so on. It really is a very basic computational phenomenon that actually is a consequence of computational irreducibility.”
- Source: Spoken by Stephen Wolfram in a video interview with Brian Keating recorded in the YouTube video ‘Stephen Wolfram | My Discovery Changes Everything’ published on channel ‘Dr. Brian Keating’ on 2024-01-19. Video offset 22:17. Online at https://youtu.be
/c-RO3vM10Ok ?si=i-XspeEtzqA3jPl9 retrieved 2024.
- See Also:
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes/Second_Law_of_Thermodynamics
- Keywords: Computation_quotes Second_quotes Law_quotes Essential_quotes Statement_quotes Fact_quotes System_quotes Start_quotes Simplicity_quotes Description_quotes Typical_quotes Complicated_quotes Like_quotes Encryption_quotes Say_quotes Initial_quotes Seed_quotes Run_quotes Practical_quotes Purpose_quotes Look_quotes Random_quotes Happen_quotes Molecule_quotes Specific_quotes Temperature_quotes Phenomenon_quotes Consequence_quotes Irreducibility_quotes Thermodynamics_quotes
Paradigm Change
“When you change the paradigm, lots of stuff can come out. In science, the biggest paradigm change that's already happened... which is model things in nature with programs not with equations. For 300 years there was this tradition that [if] you want to make a model in science that's an exact model, write down a mathematical equation. People don't do that anymore in most areas of science... It's fun to see this transition from what seems impossible to what becomes obvious.”
- Source: Spoken by Stephen Wolfram in a video interview with Brian Keating recorded in the YouTube video ‘What is Time? Stephen Wolfram’s Groundbreaking New Theory’ published on channel ‘Dr. Brian Keating’ on 2024-12-02. Video offset 1:13:57. Online at https://youtu.be/c-RO3vM10Ok?si=i-XspeEtzqA3jPl9 retrieved 2024.
- See Also:
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes/Paradigm_Change
- Keywords: Change_quotes Paradigm_quotes Science_quotes Happen_quotes Model_quotes Nature_quotes Program_quotes Algorithm_quotes Equation_quotes Year_quotes Tradition_quotes Exact_quotes Mathematics_quotes People_quotes Do_quotes Area_quotes Fun_quotes Transition_quotes Seem_quotes Impossible_quotes Become_quotes Obvious_quotes
Foundational Math Problem
“Here's the foundational problem. The mathematics you need is completely unknown. We're trying to build it, but here's how it works. If you study calculus, you'll study univariant calculus, calculus of one variable. You'll study multivariant calculus, calculus where there's variables x, y, z, and so on. What we need is calculus where there are fractional number of variables, and nobody has ever figured that out. Nobody has even tried to study that. When you look at the kind of geometry that emerges from these hypergraphs and things you end up needing to know about things like calculus in 3.1 dimensions. That's simply a mathematical structure that hasn't been built. We're in the process of building it, but it is a fairly heavy lift. That's a deep, foundational piece of mathematics that has to be built...”
- Source: Spoken by Stephen Wolfram in a video interview with Brian Keating recorded in the YouTube video ‘What is Time? Stephen Wolfram’s Groundbreaking New Theory’ published on channel ‘Dr. Brian Keating’ on 2024-12-02. Video offset 1:32:08. Online at https://youtu.be/c-RO3vM10Ok?si=i-XspeEtzqA3jPl9 retrieved 2024.
- See Also:
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes/Foundational_Math_Problem
- Keywords: Foundation_quotes Problem_quotes Mathematics_quotes Need_quotes Complete_quotes Unknown_quotes Try_quotes Build_quotes Work_quotes Study_quotes Calculus_quotes Univariant_quotes Multivariant_quotes Fraction_quotes Number_quotes Variable_quotes Nobody_quotes Figure_quotes Kind_quotes Geometry_quotes Emerge_quotes Hypergraph_quotes Know_quotes Dimension_quotes Structure_quotes Heavy_quotes Lift_quotes Deep_quotes Piece_quotes
Computational Irreducibility
“I’ve increasingly come to view the whole fundamental story of science as being about the interplay between computational irreducibility and computational reducibility. The computational nature of things inevitably leads to computational irreducibility. But there are slices of computational reducibility that inevitably exist on top of this irreducibility that are what make it possible for us — as computationally bounded entities — to identify meaningful scientific laws and to do science.”
- Source: Stephen Wolfram. “The Wolfram Physics Project: A One-Year Update” published 2021-04-14 at https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2021/04/the-wolfram-physics-project-a-one-year-update/.
- See Also:
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes/Computational_Irreducibility
- Keywords: View_quotes Whole_quotes Fundamental_quotes Story_quotes Science_quotes Interplay_quotes Between_quotes Computation_quotes Irredicible_quotes Reducible_quotes Nature_quotes Inevitable_quotes Lead_quotes Slice_quotes Exist_quotes Top_quotes Make_quotes Possible_quotes Bound_quotes Entity_quotes Identify_quotes Meaning_quotes Law_quotes Do_quotes
Elements and Relations
“It all starts — very abstractly — with collections of elements and relations.”
- Source: Stephen Wolfram. “The Wolfram Physics Project: A One-Year Update” published 2021-04-14 at https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2021/04/the-wolfram-physics-project-a-one-year-update/.
- See Also:
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes/Elements_and_Relations
Quantum Computing
“The basic idea of quantum computing... is to do different computations in parallel along different possible threads of history. But the key issue is then how to corral those threads of history together to figure out a definite answer for the computation... The preliminary indication is that at least at a formal level, quantum computers aren’t going to come out ahead.”
- Source: Stephen Wolfram. “The Wolfram Physics Project: A One-Year Update” published 2021-04-14 at https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2021/04/the-wolfram-physics-project-a-one-year-update/.
- See Also:
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes/Quantum_Computing
- Keywords: Quantum_quotes Computing_quotes Computation_quotes Different_quotes Parallel_quotes Possible_quotes Thread_quotes History_quotes Key_quotes Issue_quotes Corral_quotes Together_quotes Figure_quotes Definite_quotes Answer_quotes Preliminary_quotes Indication_quotes Least_quotes Formal_quotes Level_quotes Ahead_quotes Computer_quotes
Simple Purpose
“Whenever there’s computational irreducibility we can think of it as exerting a powerful force towards unpredictability and randomness... So for a system to achieve an overall “computationally simple purpose” this computational irreducibility must in some sense be tamed, or at least contained. And in fact it’s an inevitable feature of computational irreducibility that within it there must be “pockets of computational reducibility” where simpler behavior occurs. And at some level the way computationally simple purposes must be achieved is by tapping into those pockets of reducibility. When there’s computational irreducibility it means that there’s no simple narrative one can expect to give of how a system behaves, and no overall “mechanism” one can expect to identify for it. But one can think of pockets of computational reducibility as corresponding to at least small-scale “identifiable mechanisms”... When there’s a “simple overall purpose” being achieved these mechanisms tend to become more manifest.”
- Source: Stephen Wolfram. “What’s Special about Life? Bulk Orchestration and the Rulial Ensemble in Biology and Beyond” published 2025-11-11 at https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2025/11/whats-special-about-life-bulk-orchestration-and-the-rulial-ensemble-in-biology-and-beyond/.
- See Also:
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes/Simple_Purpose
- Keywords: Computation_quotes Irreducibility_quotes Think_quotes Exertion_quotes Powerful_quotes Force_quotes Toward_quotes Unpredictability_quotes Predictability_quotes Randomness_quotes System_quotes Achieve_quotes Simple_quotes Purpose_quotes Tame_quotes Contain_quotes Inevitable_quotes Feature_quotes Pocket_quotes Reducible_quotes Behavior_quotes Occur_quotes Level_quotes Way_quotes Tap_quotes Narrative_quotes Expect_quotes Overall_quotes Mechanism_quotes Identify_quotes Correspond_quotes Least_quotes Small_quotes Scale_quotes Tend_quotes Become_quotes Manifest_quotes
Future Jumping
“There’s a certain robustness to time when viewed in these computational terms. There’s no way to ‘jump ahead’ in time; the only way to find out what will happen in the future is to go through the irreducible computational steps to get there.”
- Source: Stephen Wolfram. “On the Nature of Time” published 2024-10-08 at https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2024/10/on-the-nature-of-time/.
- See Also:
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes
- Stephen_Wolfram_quotes/Future_Jumping