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by Pilottwave 1540 days ago
Lots of comments about his "arrogance" but i just see someone passionate, judge for yourself!

He has three long interviews on Lex Fridmans youtube channel! I greatly enjoyed watching those those.

1:[Stephen Wolfram: Cellular Automata, Computation, and Physics](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez773teNFYA)

2:[Stephen Wolfram: Fundamental Theory of Physics, Life, and the Universe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t1_ffaFXao)

3: [Stephen Wolfram: Complexity and the Fabric of Reality ](https://youtu.be/4-SGpEInX_c)

2 comments

You can be passionate and arrogant.
He didn't seem arrogant to me from the Lex podcasts. He seems to have no problem admitting when he doesn't know something or when he was wrong. Maybe his overuse of the "I" pronoun gives the wrong impression?
More the overuse of his name to name other things and the fact he has been talking about revolutioning science for at least 2 facades without doing it.
I think it depends what you mean by arrogant. To me, naming things after yourself is a bit of vanity. But I also see the advantage of building a brand with a consistent meaning. You may not believe everything Wolfram has to say, but I think that the naming here conveys a clear meaning to users.
*decades
I think façade fits better in this case
My opinion about him changed for good after watching some of those podcasts, it could be he has a very special writing style
He does his own thing and is very confident of said thing. I really admire his approach, and I truly hope he can discover something.
Is arrogance a fatal flaw? Can we not look past it and appreciate the wisdom and ideas?
To quote famed philosopher Kid Rock: it’s not bragging if you can back it up.

“Developing a fundamental theory of physics“ is not something Mr. Wolfram can back up.

If the ideas are really all he claims they are, sure. If they're just a gloss on cellular automata and don't actually deliver anything new, then all that's left is the arrogance.
Arrogance is not a flaw as far as public perception is concerned. Look at actors, sports personalities, and musicians; however, in this case, we have someone who is working on his cockamamie theories without the support of the scientific community, and the arrogance just wraps everything up in an awful package.

It is a shame because Stephen Wolfram is immensely gifted and has already achieved what many of us in the tech world can only dream about. Mathematica, despite all its flaws, is a fantastic piece of software. Wolfram has no need to scream "I've revolutionized physics!" to the four winds. It's tragic to see an exceptional mind descend into madness.

Must we ignore it and only appreciate the wisdom and ideas? Or can we talk about both?
Ask Socrates.
Wolfram is very smart and a really compelling interview.

He's also an arrogant asshole and his arrogance has greatly hindered what he's been able to accomplish. After doing a lot of interesting work in the 1970s and 1980s (including creating Mathematica), he's done very little of note since then. His books and writings have had no impact on the physics or scientific community.