A Review of the TED Talk "Stephen Wolfram: Computing a theory of everything"

In this TED talk given by creator of Mathematica, Stephen Wolfram, he discusses how he has dedicated himself to improving our computational abilities and how important the implications that these computational advances have now and will have in the future. I fully believe that Wolfram is on to something and that his computational approach will have far greater implications than most people can imagine. In this review, I will discuss some of the main points that Wolfram makes about this computational approach, some possibilities that Wolfram mentions on uses of this computational technology, some other possibilities that he doesn’t consider, and how this relates to my future. Let us first look at a summary of Wolfram’s TED talk.

So Stephen Wolfram starts out his TED talk by saying that the idea of computation may eventually “be seen as the single biggest idea that has emerged in the past century.” His belief is that someday we will be able to pull different pieces of information from the computational universe that we can use in our physical universe. Through this talk, Wolfram shows the vast potential that the computational universe has to offer us. The ideas that he presents are amazing and seem to be paving the way for things like AI.

Wolfram notes that he originally got this idea from trying to find a way to sort of automate things that he would want to know as a physicist. This eventually brought him to the creation of Mathematica, a computing software that is used by both industry and academia alike. By running programs with simple rules on this software, he found that there could be very complex results. He shows this by demonstrating one such rule with complex results that he states makes a good randomness generator. By doing this he found that even simple systems can do complex computations. 

On a slight, but important tangent, Wolfram discussed his childhood idea of systematic knowledge which he made a reality with WolframAlpha. This website runs off of the computational abilities of the Mathematica software that he created and because of this doesn’t simply look up and show already written knowledge, but instead computes it in real time which makes it easy to find the answers to novel questions. A unique feature of WolframAlpha that Wolfram mentions is that it responds to queries made in everyday language. It is able to use precise programming to respond to “imprecise” everyday language, making it easy for the layperson to use. It does this by interpreting what someone is asking and then finding the appropriate line of code to use to compute an appropriate response. This is truly a marvelous technology.

On a more serious note, back from the tangent, Wolfram talks about how musicians can pull forms of music such as jazz or pop from this computational universe, which in the future could lead to “mass customized creativity” through the use of this programming. He, as a physicist, also sees that there could be an application in discovering the notoriously elusive, theory of everything. Once again building on the idea that simple systems can do complex computations he’s found that we don’t have to go far in the computational universe to find models of physical  universes that “are not obviously not our own meaning that the theory of everything could be a simple system. Leaving us with these wonderful ideas, Wolfram closes by letting us know that he believes that “computation is destined to be the defining idea of our future.” 

I believe that the applicability of the ideas described are a fair way to evaluate this talk. I believe by evaluating this talk on the applicability of the ideas to the future we can see that this talk was indeed very effective in achieving it’s purpose. Wolfram discussed many ideas that prove the use of this computational universe and the accompanying software useful in the future.

The possibilities that Wolfram discussed were interesting to me because of the future implications of the power of computation. Along the lines of the music forms and mass produced creativity, we can imagine a world where instead of Pandora playing prerecorded songs based on a playlist that someone puts together, advances in computation could create entirely novel music based on the someone’s playlist. Along the lines of another thing that Wolfram mentions is the possibility of finding our universe in the computational universe. Through creating computational models of possible universes, Wolfram showed that we don’t have to get extremely complex to find universe that have properties like our own with features as complex as  quantum mechanics. If we were to find our own universe, it would probably bring about huge changes in the way we see the universe and the way we interact with it. If we had this very precise understanding of how our universe worked, it would be much easier to develop advanced technologies based on this knowledge. 

Some things that Wolfram doesn’t mention though is how such computations might affect how we look for information in everyday life. I know that since this TED talk was given, WolframAlpha, the computational knowledge engine that Wolfram created, has been integrated into Apple’s Siri. This makes finding answers to questions as simple as asking your phone!

A future extension of this computation technology could have great implications in the medical field as well. WolframAlpha is already able to show medical information such as BMI, cholesterol levels, etc. as it compares to people of similar race, age, sex, height, weight, etc. Imagine a future where this medical information can be compiled to create systems that are able to diagnose illness and recommend treatments. 

These are just some of the far reaching applications that this computational universe that Wolfram has imagined can have. I’m very interested to see how Wolfram’s work progresses and I believe that Wolfram’s research and development of these computational technologies represent possible opportunities for mankind to leap forward technologically as well as satisfy our insatiable curiosities. 

This applies to my future because mathematics isn’t just a bunch of abstract concepts anymore and there’s a lot of work being done in applied mathematics. What really applies to my future is the use of this mathematical and computational software is very commonly used in mathematics. Right now I’m not sure if I want to go into applied mathematics, but it is a possibility that I’m considering. Also great deal of the knowledge about the physical world that we’ve discovered in recent years has been done using a lot of math, especially in fields like chemistry, physics, biology, etc. I’ve always been interested in math and science, so this is very interesting to me, and Wolfram’s computation idea is using this mathematics and modeling to better explain the universe that we live in and create novel information that is interesting, useful, and accurate. This is what I’m truly interested in, discovering and sharing new information that allows us to do things that we’ve never dreamed of.

Wolfram explains his computational technology well and poses creative and novel ideas for it’s use. I mean, he created a whole new software to get what what he wanted. I’d say that this is pretty darn creative. To me, this idea that Wolfram suggests of being able to ask questions in laymen’s terms and then receive an accurate and informative response is a fantastic idea that has a lot of potential and is very useful. The other idea that he has about the computational universe is vastly more cool and important because it allows us to model things and our world to discover as well as create new information and new knowledge. Overall from writing this review and watching the TED talk, I feel that I’ve gained a better appreciation for math and it’s usefulness as well as learning more about its applications.