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  • A New Kind of Science

    Did anyone read this?

    The latest on exploring the computational universe, with free online access to Stephen Wolfram's classic 1,200-page breakthrough book.


    O just stumbled on it. The guy claims he invented a completely new approach to science.

    A must read? Crazy man's ramblings?

  • #2
    Havn't read the book, but it was reviewed quite a bit by mathematicians.
    Common comment was that most of the material was neither his (he doesn't attribute a lot of research and makes it sounds like it's his) or new.

    See the section criticism of
    "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_new_kind_of_science"
    for some idea.

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    • #3
      Yeah, I've seen the wikipedia page. I'm not a scientist myself, so scientific critique is not what I'm looking for. I'll be perfectly happy to buy the book if it's a good "popular sicence" read and has thought-provoking material. If it's all about "me, me, me" (me being that Wolfram dude) as some suggest, I'm going to stay away from it.

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      • #4
        I'm sorry...just got through the preface and was getting massive Bad Vibes off this, anyone remember that crackpot Christopher Langdon (sp?) and his big grand theory that will change everything so buy my book?

        I think he fulfilled several of the Crackpot tests in the first few paragraphs, i.e. lonely hero scientist, grandiose claims, claims of persecution (even lol preemptive claims), vague, difficult to test or ultimately trivial discoveries dressed up with Big Words, etc etc.

        I would view this in two ways:
        1) an advertisement
        2) "If you think this is big, you should see my ego!"
        "Wait a minute..this isn''t FAUX dive, it's just a DIVE!"
        "...Mangy dog staggering about, looking vainly for a place to die."
        "sauna stories? There are no 'sauna stories'.. I mean.. sauna is sauna. You do by the laws of sauna." -P.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Lul Thyme
          Havn't read the book, but it was reviewed quite a bit by mathematicians.

          That's all I need to know. Math freaks, discussing science. What a rip snorter that must be.
          I can hardly wait.
          Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
          "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
          He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

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          • #6
            Originally posted by SlowwHand



            That's all I need to know. Math freaks, discussing science. What a rip snorter that must be.
            I can hardly wait.
            You were probably quite far from the intended audience, so all is well.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by VetLegion
              Yeah, I've seen the wikipedia page. I'm not a scientist myself, so scientific critique is not what I'm looking for. I'll be perfectly happy to buy the book if it's a good "popular sicence" read and has thought-provoking material. If it's all about "me, me, me" (me being that Wolfram dude) as some suggest, I'm going to stay away from it.
              Wolfram is known for his HUGE ego but the book probably still has some thought-provoking ideas in it, so it's your call.

              You just have to understand that a lot of it isn't actually as ground breaking as the author claims.

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