Why people recommend it
A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram is a monumental and unconventional book that explores complex systems, cellular automata, and the fundamental computational rules governing the universe. Lex Fridman frequently highlighted the book across multiple episodes of the Lex Fridman Podcast, often describing it as the single volume he would choose to take to a desert island due to its profound intellectual depth. Fridman expressed deep personal gratitude to Stephen Wolfram, recounting how exploring the mysteries of cellular automata within the book inspired his childhood passion for artificial intelligence and the philosophy of computation. In other episodes, Fridman referenced the text to compare bold declarations of originality in scientific fields and to examine the study of complexity, irreducible systems, and alternative approaches to modeling scientific phenomena. Guest Andrew Strominger also touched upon the book's themes, discussing how it addresses the challenges researchers face when attempting to talk about complex objects and theoretical paradigms. Across these discussions, the book was consistently framed as a daring, paradigm-shifting intellectual journey that challenges conventional scientific thinking and invites readers to reconsider the computational fabric of reality itself, leaving a lasting impression on generations of tech pioneers.
Who recommended it
- Lex Fridman Recommended
- Stephen Wolfram Discussed
- Daniel Schmachtenberger Discussed
Lex Fridman — 13 mentions
“I'm deeply grateful that you wrote a new kind of science, that you explored this mystery of cellular automata and inspired this one little kid in me to, to pursue artificial intelligence in all this beautiful world.”
“I’m deeply grateful that you wrote A New Kind of Science, that you explored this mystery of cellular automata and inspired this one little kid in me to pursue artificial intelligence in all this beautiful world.”
“There's a lot of scientists, there's a, one of the people I really admire is Stephen Wolfram, who wrote a book called "A New Kind of Science" that explores complex systems and cellular automata and these mathematical systems that have been explored before, but he boldly kind of defined, "I am presenting to you a whole new way to look”
“he wrote a book A New Kind of Science um basically hinting at which a lot of people offended as like we don't have a good way to talk about these objects”
“I just don’t think, you know, he wrote a book, A New Kind of Science, basically hinting at which a lot of people offended as like, we don’t have a good way to talk about these objects.”
“almost 20 years ago you published A New Kind of Science where you presented a study of complexity and an approach for modeling of complex systems”
“you've explained this and uh it's the fundamental mechanism by which you in your book and you kind of science explored the idea of complexity and how to do science in this world of Island reducible islands and irreducible general irreducibility”
“you saw this you've opened with a new kind of science I mean I remember it was a huge eye-opener that's such simple things can create such complexity”
“the whole thing is that if you don't allow that kind of ego then you would never write that book that you would say well people must have done this”
“I said I could have done sort of I'm really glad you did what you did but you could have done a sort of academically just publish keep publishing small papers”
“so so in 2002 you published a new kind of science to which sort of on a personal level I can credit my love for cellular automata and computation in general I think a lot of others can as well can you briefly describe the vision the hope the main idea presented in this twelve hundred page book”
“like even when I first like open your book a new kind of science right -”
“if I had to take one book any new kind of science would be a because you just enjoy that notion for some reason it's a deeply profound notion at least to me I find it that way”
Stephen Wolfram — 1 mention
“I've got one example great great collection of books from my friend Rudy Rooker which were uh which I have to say the uh the books about uh that are very informed by a bunch of science that I've done”
Daniel Schmachtenberger — 1 mention
“wol from is a new kind of science I have only skimmed and read reviews of and not read the whole thing or his newer work since”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
- 2001, a Space Odyssey
- Animal Farm
- Collapse
- Cultural Materialism
- Dreams of a final theory
- Engines of Creation
Other mentions (11: passing, ad reads, own books)
“This idea captured my attention, so I focused on the picture in the book, trying to understand it better.”
“I mean, it's kind of like, like, you know, I think I gave an example of that, the little book I wrote about, about ChatGPT where it's kind of like, you know, Galileo was dropping cannonballs off the different floors of the Tower of Pisa. I read the book, and one significant takeaway for me was the book's claim that”
“I published my big book new kind of science it'll be 20 years ago uh next year so in 2002 and people are saying oh no this can't possibly be true”
“he's the author of several books including a new kind of Science and the new book a project to find the fundamental Theory of physics”
“you know I wrote about them back in 2002 with the new kind of Science and the cellular ainal world there's echo in the cellular aomin world”
“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”
“sort of you know a book title is something like a new kind of science”
“and anytime you you write a book called something like a new kind of science it's kind of the the pitchforks will come out for the for the old kind of science”
“and so in some vision of the future of history it's like the disembodied consciousness is are all sort of pursuing things like my new kind of science sort of for the rest of eternity so to speak”
“I produced this book called a new kind of science which has had all kinds of consequences in the world”
“and it was a you know that was a definitely a tenacity testing process to go do that for a decade basically and you know I got it finished I produced this book called a new kind of science which has had all kinds of consequences in the world”