[Neuropostdocs] Stephen Wolfram lecture next Monday

[Sam Beshers]

Below is an announcement from Wolfram Research (producers of 
Mathematica) of a lecture to be given
next Monday by Stephen Wolfram on themes from his book A New Kind of 
Science.   This book has been controversial:  it is very long, few 
people actually have (or probably, will) read it, and the body of the 
text cites no research other than Wolfram's own.  The book describes 
Wolfram's explorations of cellular automata (CAs) and their 
properties, wherein he claims to have discovered "a new kind of 
science", in which many aspects of the universe, and all fundamental 
ones, can be modeled using CAs, and in which CAs will replace 
conventional mathematics.

Everyone agrees that Wolfram is very smart, and also that he doesn't 
give sufficient credit to those who came before him, and the jury is 
still out on whether he has discovered everything, something, or 
nothing.
Those who go to the lecture may hear Newton or they may hear about 
cold fusion.  Pay your money and take your choice!

Sam

----------------------------------------------------

Following the highly successful launch of his book A NEW KIND OF
SCIENCE (http://www.wolframscience.com), Stephen Wolfram will be
giving a number of general-interest public lectures around the
U.S., describing the ideas and discoveries in his book, their
implications for various fields of science, and their personal
and historical context.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
http://www.uiuc.edu
Urbana, IL 61801
Foellinger Auditorium
Arnold O. Beckman Lecture
http://www.cas.uiuc.edu/beckmanlecture.html
October 14, 2002, 4:00 p.m.

-- 
Samuel N. Beshers, Ph.D.
Program Coordinator, Neuroscience Program, and
Research Associate, Department of Entomology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
505 S. Goodwin Ave
Urbana, IL  61801
217-333-4971