Wolfram's new "Cloud" initiative

post by Gvaerg · 2013-11-13T18:02:39.641Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 5 comments

Contents

5 comments

I was reading through this:

http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2013/11/something-very-big-is-coming-our-most-important-technology-project-yet/

which announces the new "Wolfram Cloud" project of Stephen Wolfram and I noticed how much this sounds like "Flare" and EY's old "Plan to Singularity" document (linking from archive.org because the site seems to not show that particular page right now).

Only this time it's for real.

What do you think?

5 comments

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comment by Mestroyer · 2013-11-13T19:16:04.663Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

If they're making an AGI, I hope they at least have the narrative courtesy to say "YOLO" as they turn it on.

comment by solipsist · 2013-11-13T19:19:44.044Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I have trouble getting past association biases. Symbolic programming was going to be the Next Big Thing for most of the '80s (it wasn't). Stephen Wolfram invented a field of study so revolutionary it could only be called a New Kind of Science (it isn't). Reading about either sets off vaporware alarms in my mind; reading about the two combined is deafening.

Replies from: solipsist
↑ comment by solipsist · 2013-11-13T19:31:41.676Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

That said, Wolfram is an elegant language with unusually clean libraries written by extremely sharp people. I don't wish the project ill.

Replies from: ChristianKl
↑ comment by ChristianKl · 2013-11-14T11:17:58.239Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I don't wish the project ill.

If we don't want a AGI in the near future, shouldn't we wish projects like that ill?

comment by jamesf · 2013-11-14T06:43:57.015Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

This is an awful lot of words for talking about something that I don't get to play with yet.