#89 – Stephen Wolfram: Cellular Automata, Computation, and Physics
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About this episode
<p>Stephen Wolfram is a computer scientist, mathematician, and theoretical physicist who is the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research, a company behind Mathematica, Wolfram Alpha, Wolfram Language, and the new Wolfram Physics project. He is the author of several books including A New Kind of Science, which on a personal note was one of the most influential books in my journey in computer science and artificial intelligence.</p>
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<p>EPISODE LINKS:<br />
Stephen’s Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/stephen_wolfram">https://twitter.com/stephen_wolfram</a><br />
Stephen’s Website: <a href="https://www.stephenwolfram.com/">https://www.stephenwolfram.com/</a><br />
Wolfram Research Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/WolframResearch">https://twitter.com/WolframResearch</a><br />
Wolfram Research YouTube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/WolframResearch">https://www.youtube.com/user/WolframResearch</a><br />
Wolfram Research Website: <a href="https://www.wolfram.com/">https://www.wolfram.com/</a><br />
Wolfram Alpha: <a href="https://www.wolframalpha.com/">https://www.wolframalpha.com/</a><br />
A New Kind of Science (book): <a href="https://amzn.to/34JruB2">https://amzn.to/34JruB2</a></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast.</span> If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to <a href="https://lexfridman.com/ai">https://lexfridman.com/ai</a> or connect with @lexfridman on <a href="https://twitter.com/lexfridman">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/@lexfridman">Medium</a>, or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/lexfridman">YouTube</a> where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/artificial-intelligence/id1434243584">Apple Podcasts</a>, follow on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2MAi0BvDc6GTFvKFPXnkCL">Spotify</a>, or support it on <a href="https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman">Patreon</a>.</p>
<p>Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.</p>
<p>OUTLINE:<br />
00:00 – Introduction<br />
04:16 – Communicating with an alien intelligence<br />
12:11 – Monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey<br />
29:06 – What is computation?<br />
44:54 – Physics emerging from computation<br />
1:14:10 – Simulation<br />
1:19:23 – Fundamental theory of physics<br />
1:28:01 – Richard Feynman<br />
1:39:57 – Role of ego in science<br />
1:47:21 – Cellular automata<br />
2:15:08 – Wolfram language<br />
2:55:14 – What is intelligence?<br />
2:57:47 – Consciousness<br />
3:02:36 – Mortality<br />
3:05:47 – Meaning of life</p>