I read Wolfram's book a couple of years ago. I wasn't particularly impressed with it. Lots of interesting experiments with cellular automata, and some over-generalizations about simple mechanisms that might underly all kinds of phenomena. Not a lot of hard proof/logic though, just lots of "might" "could be's"
Skip Alex Rufon wrote: > For the last few months (I started around November 2008 I think), I've been > reading Stephen Wolfram's "A New Kind of Science". I have to admit that it > has been taking an unusually long time for me to go through the book. I > usually read it during my lunch breaks. > > This morning, I tried out Wolfram Alpha and following links to it, I stumbled > on to a book review located here: > http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/reviews/wolfram/ which summarizes the > books as "A Rare Blend of Monster Raving Egomania and Utter Batshit Insanity". > > I am now 2/3rds into the book and I believe I am not qualified (being just a > lowly BSBA-Economics grad) to comment on its topic. It does try to apply > itself to a diverse set of known concepts and ideas which I just take at face > value. > > So what do you guys think about this book? > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
