
The Stephen Wolfram Podcast
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.
Latest episodes

Feb 15, 2021 • 1h 20min
Stephen Wolfram Q&A, For Kids (and others) [November 6, 2020]
Stephen Wolfram answers general questions from his viewers about science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series.
Questions include: Why is that the sunspot cycle is important for shortwave radio? - What aspects of the origin of life would be interesting to investigate with current computing tools? - How does 3d printing work and what is its potential? - How do you think like a mathematician or scientist? I have read and heard that math and science take a different mental process than what we are shown at school. What skills should I be building? - Do you think we could see a day when people are taught/educated by AI and computers, either with or instead of people and what do you think of this, especially when compared to education today? - What is the difference between science and philosophy?
See the full Q&A video playlist: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa

Feb 5, 2021 • 2h 50min
Wolfram Physics Project: Open Q&A Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020
Stephen Wolfram discusses the new Wolfram Physics Project, this time specifically for an open Q&A. See the full Wolfram Physics Project video playlist on YouTube: https://wolfr.am/youtube-wpp

Jan 26, 2021 • 1h 20min
Stephen Wolfram Q&A, For Kids (and others) [October 30, 2020]
Stephen Wolfram answers general questions from his viewers about science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series.
Questions include: Where were you in the dot com bubble burst and your wisdom was needed? - What work did you do at Bell labs? Who did you meet? - Was it the need in telephone grid that drove the innovation of the transistor? - How many shirts do you own? - Are there any string theorists who believe that nature is finite and digital? - Great scientists typically have great students. Is it because something is transferred from a teacher to a student or because talented people try to reach outstanding supervisors? - What age do you think is the best age to start coding? and why? - Hi Dr. Wolfram, what does it mean 'correlation does not imply causation'? -
Dr. Wolfram, can you give an example what you will do with Wolfram language if you were 13 years old?
See the full Q&A video playlist: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa

Jan 25, 2021 • 1h 33min
Stephen Wolfram Q&A, For Kids (and others) [October 23, 2020]
Stephen Wolfram answers general questions from his viewers about science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series.
Questions include: I was wondering about your thoughts on Claude Shannon, information entropy, and information theory in general. I believe this field is responsible for so much technology and progress around us, but doesn't get its due praise in the mainstream. - What books / exercises are best to take me from a high school level physics / mathematics understanding to being able to make sense of the wolfram physics model? - Why is the core of the Earth as hot as the surface of the sun? Fusion or fission? Is this true of many planets/moons in our solar system? - What good and bad aspects are there to being financially successful? How did your life change when you first became a millionaire? - If you got a chance to talk to Richard Feynman, right now in 2020, and ask only one question, what would it be? - It is 'easy' to make a bot for every video game? How god ant-bot detection methods can be? - What outreach do you do for students in a similar situation as I was in, to help people succeed as I did? Any plans on increasing that outreach?
See the full Q&A video playlist: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa

Jan 25, 2021 • 1h 24min
Stephen Wolfram Q&A, For Kids (and others) [October 16, 2020]
Stephen Wolfram answers general questions from his viewers about science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series.
Questions include:
For a math/science career, what is the most useful subject to study in school excluding math/science? What was your favorite non-science class(subject) in school? - Does a charged battery weigh more than a discharged battery? - How can scientist Measure Atomic number for every element, electron mass and speed? - Is there an accessible book about the history of computation that you would recommend? - If it's true sound can be transmitted more easily in solids compared to gases, why can we hear better through air compared to through walls or glass? - Why are mirrors made with glass? Would a mirror made with a different material have different reflective properties? - What was your first computer Dr. Wolfram? - How long have you known Donald Knuth? - Golf ball have dimples that allow them to move faster. Why cars and planes don't have dimples? - When you say that in philosophy everyone can think about fundamental questions: why is that the case in philosophy but not in physics or maths? why does philosophy not have a similar rigid corpus of theory as "harder science" have?
See the full Q&A video playlist: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa

Jan 22, 2021 • 1h 26min
Stephen Wolfram Q&A, For Kids (and others) [October 9, 2020]
Stephen Wolfram answers general questions from his viewers about science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series.
Questions include:
Do protons decay? - Theoretically, If there was a ladder stretching from earth to a distant planet, say a light year away. Could you communicate with people there instantly by push and pulling, Morse code style? And is this related to quantum entanglement? - Who do you think was the smartest person to ever live? - Do you think that it is possible to make secret some big discovery related to let say AI by government, similar to Project Manhattan? - Any stories about Roger Penrose? - Would it be possible to have a stream in which we can see the output of the detector? - Hey Stephen do you believe that there was an idea of technology before modern civilizations?
See the full Q&A video playlist: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa

Jan 20, 2021 • 2h 8min
Wolfram Physics Project Update and Q&A (Jan. 19, 2021)
Stephen Wolfram & Jonathan Gorard discuss updates to the project followed by a Q&A. See the full Wolfram Physics Project video playlist on YouTube: https://wolfr.am/youtube-wpp

Jan 13, 2021 • 1h 3min
Stephen Wolfram Q&A, For Kids (and others) [October 2, 2020]
Stephen Wolfram answers general questions from his viewers about science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series.
Questions include: Do you think that neurons work more as a mechanical system or rather on quantum level? Is computational power done by the neural network or more by the microtubules? - It has been argued that the majority of published research findings in science are false (i.e., overfitting). Since you have read 100s of research papers, has this been your experience? Are there fields where the academic research is generally of higher quality? - Is it possible to slow climate change by creating like a layer of clouds to lower temperature by a bit? - How do birds fly and why is it so hard to completely understand and mimic it? -
What does it mean when a paper is peer review. Who are the peers? -
I want to teach science for my 3 years old sister, what subjects do I teach? - Regarding climate change, if all of the glaciers melt, how will coastal cities keep the water back? - How many hours of sleep you get?
See the full Q&A video playlist: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa

Jan 13, 2021 • 52min
Stephen Wolfram Q&A, For Kids (and others) [September 25, 2020]
Stephen Wolfram answers general questions from his viewers about science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series.
Questions include: Hi Stephen, you have said that you doubt whether quantum computers will ever work. Why do I read so often that another quantum computer was built with so and so many qbits? - We know there are more than three dimensions? - What is quantum tunneling? - Why is the 3-body problem so hard to solve? - Who is your favourite Manhattan project Scientist? I was reading about Stanislaw Ulam did you ever meet him? -
Have you ever considered teaching other subjects besides math? What subjects? - What do you know about Ettore Majorana? -
I'd be curious to hear what your thoughts are on Music Theory and Composition. Are you familiar with Dmitri Tymoczko at Princeton? -
Can you explain Hurwitz's automorphisms theorem? - Do you think that neurons work more as a mechanical system or rather on quantum level? Is computational power done by the neural network or more by the microtubules?
See the full Q&A video playlist: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa

Jan 13, 2021 • 1h 10min
Stephen Wolfram Q&A, For Kids (and others) [September 18, 2020]
Stephen Wolfram answers general questions from his viewers about science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series.
Questions include: Can data be sent via light wirelessly? - How can there be different types of twilights and would you observe the same thing on Mars? - Why is the sky not black? - How do I become a scientist like you? How did you make it to create a business out of it? -
Is it possible to do a PhD research under your supervision? - Can photons interact? I heard about light-by-light scattering; but aren't photons just the (independent) quantum activation of an electro-magnetic wave? - My supervisor says that I should do little progresses and publish lots even if shallow works, but I am more inclined to fewer deeper works. What should I do? - Is there a hard lesson you learnt that has impacted you deeply?
See the full Q&A video playlist: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa
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