Interesting review of Stephen Wolfram's A New Kind of Science in Slate - focusing on why it's made such good copy in the States:
"Wolfram is selling not just a theory, but a story - the story of a genius who retreats from the misunderstanding and jealousy of smaller minds. Some call the genius crazy, but he doesn't mind. Some raise technical objections to his theory. But the genius knows that true ideas are always simple and that technicalities are just the so-called experts' way of hiding the inadequacy of their ideas. He should read and give credit to the work of his peers? What they know, he doesn't need. Anyway, reading would waste time: time he needs to erect the intellectual monument history will thank him for....
With a few exceptions, journalists like the story nearly as much as Wolfram does... In his New York Times piece, George Johnson writes, "[T]he artist returned to his garret to tinker, ignoring the bad vibes and hexes cast by jealous colleagues hoping to see him fall flat on his face." He goes on to commend Wolfram for eschewing scientific publication-or, as Johnson calls it, "unreadable papers published in fashionable zines." (Unreadable to whom? Fashionable to whom? And-"zines"??) "It's too bad," he concludes, "that more science isn't delivered this way."
I can't entirely blame the journalists; it's a good story. And we mathematicians have raised our profile greatly by telling it. But that publicity comes with a price. Wolfram's beliefs about cellular automata may or may not catch on. Frankly, I hope people do make new science out of his ideas. But I'm afraid it's more likely that people will learn different lessons from Wolfram's book and its treatment in the press. They'll learn that the scientific process is about protecting turf, not about producing knowledge, and that if something such as calculus seems difficult, it must be beside the point or wrong."
http://www.slate.msn.com/?id=2067547
David
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