Stephen Wolfram on Cellular Automata, Computation & the Nature of Reality | Lex Fridman Podcast #89

Stephen Wolfram is a computer scientist, mathematician, and theoretical physicist who is the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research, a company behind Mathematica, Wolfram Alpha, Wolfram Language, and the new Wolfram Physics project. He 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. Support this podcast by signing up with these sponsors: - ExpressVPN at https://www.expressvpn.com/lexpod - Cash App - use code "LexPodcast" and download: - Cash App (App Store): https://apple.co/2sPrUHe - Cash App (Google Play): https://bit.ly/2MlvP5w EPISODE LINKS: Stephen's Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephen_wolfram Stephen's Website: https://www.stephenwolfram.com/ Wolfram Research Twitter: https://twitter.com/WolframResearch Wolfram Research YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WolframResearch Wolfram Research Website: https://www.wolfram.com/ Wolfram Alpha: https://www.wolframalpha.com/ A New Kind of Science (book): https://amzn.to/34JruB2 PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ Full episodes playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 Clips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41 OUTLINE: 0:00 - Introduction 4:16 - Communicating with an alien intelligence 12:11 - Monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey 29:06 - What is computation? 44:54 - Physics emerging from computation 1:14:10 - Simulation 1:19:23 - Fundamental theory of physics 1:28:01 - Richard Feynman 1:39:57 - Role of ego in science 1:47:21 - Cellular automata 2:15:08 - Wolfram language 2:55:14 - What is intelligence? 2:57:47 - Consciousness 3:02:36 - Mortality 3:05:47 - Meaning of life CONNECT: - Subscribe to this YouTube channel - Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LexFridmanPage - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman - Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman - Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman