So the thing I realized rather gradually - I must say starting about 20 years ago now that we know about computers and things - there's a possibility of a more general basis for rules to describe nature.
Interpretation
Stephen Wolfram reflects on the potential of computers to establish universal rules for understanding nature.
In this quote, Stephen Wolfram emphasizes the gradual realization over two decades that advancements in computer science could lead to a more comprehensive framework for understanding the laws governing nature. He suggests that with the capabilities of modern technology, we might discern patterns and principles that describe the complexity of the natural world more effectively than before.
In practice
In a science class discussing the role of technology in understanding natural laws.
The thing that got me started on the science that I've been building now for about 20 years or so was the question of okay, if mathematical equations can't make progress in understanding complex phenomena in the natural world, how might we make progress?
The growth of our understanding of the world through science weakens some of the motivation which makes people believers. But that's not the same thing as saying they're incompatible. It's just that I think some of the traditional reasons for belief, going back thousands of years, are rather undermined.
Therefore, when I considered this carefully, the contempt which I had to fear because of the novelty and apparent absurdity of my view, nearly induced me to abandon utterly the work I had begun.
On seeing the marsupials in Australia for the first time and comparing them to placental mammals: “An unbeliever . . . might exclaim 'Surely two distinct Creators must have been at work'”
It was like a new world opened to me, the world of science, which I was at last permitted to know in all liberty.
Evolution works by selection, not by instruction. There is no final cause, no teleology, no purpose guiding the overall process
In a lot of scientists, the ratio of wonder to skepticism declines in time. That may be connected with the fact that in some fields-mathematics, physics, some others-the great discoveries are almost entirely made by youngsters.
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