Future of Science & Technology Q&A (December 22, 2023)

May 31, 2024

Computer scientist and entrepreneur, Stephen Wolfram, answers questions about the future of science and technology, discussing topics such as artificial intelligence, memory storage, the potential of Earth becoming a big brain, IoT and 5G technology impact, interaction with AIs via latent space, shooting films in space, and more. The conversation dives into the complexity of human consciousness, information storage differences between humans and robots, behavior of fluids in microgravity, remote tourism, electronic simulation of taste and touch sensations, and the significance of computational thinking in understanding the world.

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Introduction

00:00 • 2min

Exploring the Complexity of Human Consciousness

01:37 • 20min

Diverse Perspectives on Information Storage

21:43 • 5min

Exploring Concepts in Microgravity and Technology Advancements

27:08 • 23min

Exploring the Future of Large Language Models and Remote Tourism

50:29 • 9min

Exploring Remote Tasting and Manipulating Sensory Systems Through Computation

59:24 • 5min

Exploring Computational Thinking and Expanding Horizons

01:03:55 • 8min

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the future of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa

Questions include: What will "prompt engineering" be like if LLMs are super-intelligent? - Maybe language is stopping us to get some ideas because we cannot formulate the idea in our known languages? - Elon yesterday on X was saying how most of our memory is digital now and same will happen with concepts, just stored on some device. - Seems like, for creatures like cuttlefish or octopus where they have the ability to change the shape texture and color of their skin, they must have something "different" going on in their brains, where they are not just capable of perceiving shape color and texture of the outside world, but also the ability to physically "mimicking" it.... Just a thought. - In the future the Earth would probably be a big brain. If every connected computer on the internet was running neuron-computations... - What if we need to deal with concepts that need more neural mass that we possess? - What do you think of the plans to shoot feature films in space? - What impact will the Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G technology have on our daily lives, from smart cities to autonomous vehicles? - Someone should start a tourist livestream channel. - Do you think in the future humans could interact with AIs via a visualization of latent space to create new concepts? - Missing the ability to try the food, a major reason to actually go somewhere. Do you think there'd be a way to "taste" via computation? - Thank you for these livestreams. Dr Wolfram mentioned on the stream Wednesday his work on developing a course on computation thinking. I wonder if he could comment on how that is going? - When is AI going to travel the galaxy on its own and create its own habitat on a different planet? - Have you ever had figgy pudding? If so, how would you describe it?