History of Science & Technology Q&A (September 7, 2022)

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa Questions include: Did any ancient unit systems use base 10, or did they all use more easily dividable bases like 12, 20, 60, etc.? - What is the history of design patterns in software engineering? How did people come to them? - Did you ever meet Niklaus Wirth, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Alan Kay and/or Paul Allen? - Have Julia sets and Fatou sets played a significant role in the development of computer programming languages? - Agreed. Computer programming languages should be object oriented for the language and structure to make sense instead of coming off as abstract and convoluted, and also so they are easier to work with and learn. - Did eighteenth-century engineers/craftsmen make use of the paradigm of Newtonian mechanics? - Why is it that Isaac Newton spent most of his time trying to prove theological ideas? - When will Moore's law expire? Apple announced four-nanometer chip technology, and there has to be a limit. - I wonder whether the future will be multicomputational, but to be honest, computers nowadays are more than powerful enough for the average user.

Om Podcasten

Stephen Wolfram is the creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha and the Wolfram Language; the author of A New Kind of Science; and the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research. Over the course of nearly four decades, he has been a pioneer in the development and application of computational thinking—and has been responsible for many discoveries, inventions and innovations in science, technology and business. On his podcast, Stephen discusses topics ranging from the history of science to the future of civilization and ethics of AI.