You know that Space-Time thing? Never mind.

Hi,

People who were fascinated by cellular automata may like the article below.

Best,

- Boyd


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/697306/posts

Hi Boyd!

> People who were fascinated by cellular
> automata may like the article below.

Boyd - Thanks, it's interesting to me! When I started my Ph.D., my original topic was going to be trying to model quantum physics using cellular automata....

Back then, this was a very obscure area to do, and I ended up changing fields.... However, because of this experience, I know something about this area.

I'm going to try to get my hands on a copy of Stephen Wolfram's book and check through it! :) (Stephen Wolfram did some of the pioneering work in this field, in the mid-1980s.)

By the way.... On the BUSINESS side, as the article says, Stephen Wolfram is a physicist-turned-multimillionaire-entrepreneur. He is a former university academic, who decided to give away the academic life to become an entrepreneur.

Stephen Wolfram developed some software, called Mathematica, which allows you do to some very advanced mathematics. (It is widely used by physics researchers - I've used it, for example. It's very powerful software, though it costs a couple thousand bucks to buy a copy.)

Anyhow, Mathematica made him a multi-millionaire - he started the company, created the software, and I think he's still heading the company today. His wealth from his company allows him the freedom to do whatever research he wants to do nowadays, whenever he wants....

- Dien Rice

Hi,

How did Wolfram figure out there was a "want" and then figure out people would pay $2k a pop?

Best,

- Boyd

> Hi,

> How did Wolfram figure out there was a
> "want" and then figure out people
> would pay $2k a pop?

Hi Boyd,

I think the answer is because Stephen Wolfram was a physicist himself, so he knew what problems other physicists had, and what their wants were.... Probably in Wolfram's case, their wants coincided with his own wants.... So he created the software to satisfy those wants.

(By the way, Mathematica is used far beyond physics - it's also used in engineering, mathematics, and other areas where advanced mathematical modeling can come in handy.)

I think it's kind of similar to Jeff Paul's story in this way. Jeff Paul was a financial planner.... As a financial planner himself, he had good knowledge of the biggest problems and wants that financial planners had. So, when he created his manual, he set out to solve those problems and satisfy those wants....

I have no idea how Stephen Wolfram came up with the price - however, Mathematica (to my knowledge) is mostly bought by institutions, more than individuals. It's a tool to use for work, so it's usually bought by the university department, or the company, etc. If he was targeting individuals, it might have been more difficult for him to charge such a high price.

- Dien