
7 years of NKS--and its first killer app - ph0rque
http://blog.wolfram.com/2009/05/14/7-years-of-nksand-its-first-killer-app/
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amichail
Not convincing.

The most interesting part is this: "As a practical matter, many algorithms in
Wolfram|Alpha were found by NKS methods—by searching the computational
universe for programs that achieve particular purposes."

But without giving details on what was done and discovered, it's not
convincing. Moreover, the method used would need to be compared with related
work such as genetic programming.

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volida
I've observed you are totally negative about their attempt (you post similar
negative comments here on HN). At least they are trying and I won't judge if I
don't test it first. Also, from what his says it's obvious that they do
realize it's a long term project.

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TriinT
Stephen Wolfram is a very smart guy. He obtained his PhD in particle physics
at Caltech at a very, very tender age. He created Mathematica. He has an
impressive track record. However, his obsession with that NKS baloney puzzles
me. I don't understand why such an intelligent man is so enchanted with
cellular automata and the like, which have relatively little value other than
the recreational one. Here's a perfect example of a powerful mind which was
hijacked by a silly idea.

~~~
franklin
If you think his book is about CAs, you haven't read the book.

~~~
tokenadult
"A Collection of Reviews of ANKOS and Links to Related Work"

<http://shell.cas.usf.edu/~eclark/ANKOS_reviews.html>

I have read the book, right when it was first published. I don't deem myself
competent to judge Wolfram's arguments or his critics' arguments, but I did
think the lack of scholarly citation of prior literature was more than a
little off-putting.

