|
|
|
|
H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
 Posted - 09/19/2011 : 09:54:26
|
...with the pages?
Ok, I'll try to be more specific. I need help trying to remember the name and author of a book I recall only vaguely and was hoping somebody here might remember what I'm talking about.
This was a book that came out awhile ago. Maybe somewhere between 5-10 years even. (I'm horrible at gauging the passage of time.) It was by some guy who was considered really smart and had earned a reputation for being a bit of a boy wonder in his youth. I can't remember his field. Physics, maybe. Then he went into seclusion for a time and at the end of it released this massive book. He claimed it was going to revolutionize biology by uncovering underlying patterns for everything from the way leaves grow to how bacteria reproduce. I remember it had a lot to do with fractals, and much of the book was demonstrating the similarities between side-by-side comparisons of nature photos and fractals generated by computer algorithms. I think the cover had a some sort of digitized pattern on it.
Despite the hype and fanboi attention this book received, the ultimate reaction of the scientific community was "meh." I don't remember it being particularly well-received. Then the book sort of faded out of popular discussion.
Can anyone help me remember?
|
"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
|
|
H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2011 : 11:03:19 [Permalink]
|
I found it! It's called A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram.
I finally hit upon it by searching Google with the phrase "crank science book, big hype." 
Wikipedia says | Many reviewers enjoyed the quality of the book's production and the clear way Wolfram presented many ideas. Even those reviewers who engaged in other criticisms found aspects of the book to be interesting and thought-provoking. On the other hand, many reviewers criticized Wolfram for his lack of modesty, poor editing, lack of mathematical rigor, and the lack of immediate utility of his ideas. Concerning the ultimate importance of the book, a common attitude was that of either skepticism or "wait and see". Many reviewers and the media focused on the use of simple programs (cellular automata in particular) to model nature, rather than the more fundamental idea of systematically exploring the universe of simple programs. |
Did anybody read ever this book?
|
"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 09/19/2011 11:04:56 |
 |
|
|
Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2011 : 11:04:28 [Permalink]
|
Was it Steven Wolfram and "A New Kind of Science"?
|
METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden! |
|
|
|
BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2011 : 11:05:29 [Permalink]
|
| damn it.. I want my search seconds back! |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
|
|
|
Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2011 : 11:05:29 [Permalink]
|
Gee, HH. You just made me waste a full 15 seconds of my life.
|
METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden! |
|
|
|
H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2011 : 11:06:09 [Permalink]
|
Originally posted by Hawks
Was it Steven Wolfram and "A New Kind of Science"? |
Well done, Hawks. I think I found my answer literally seconds before you posted.
So, do you have any opinions on the book?
P.S. Sorry about wasting your time. 
|
"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 09/19/2011 11:06:39 |
|
|
|
Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2011 : 11:06:51 [Permalink]
|
Compare our time-stamps, BigParaSmurf. What is it they say about great minds...?
|
METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden! |
|
|
|
marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2011 : 11:24:12 [Permalink]
|
Reminds me a bit of when I unfortunately picked up this book: A New Science of Life by Rupert Sheldrake. It's pretty bad - morphic resonance, telepathy, that sort of stuff.
I have not read Wolfram's book. Doesn't sound like I want to either. |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
|
|
|
|
Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2011 : 11:53:28 [Permalink]
|
Originally posted by H. Humbert
So, do you have any opinions on the book?
|
No, I haven't read it.
| P.S. Sorry about wasting your time. |
I forgive you.  |
METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden! |
|
|
|
sailingsoul
SFN Addict
2830 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2011 : 12:10:00 [Permalink]
|
| I searched on the borders books web site and got zero results every time, based on what you remembered or described H.H.. Time wasted? I don't mind searching for what is there and finding nothing. What I would mind is searching for what is not there and find something. If you get my drift. SS |
There are only two types of religious people, the deceivers and the deceived. SS |
|
|
|
Machi4velli
SFN Regular
USA
854 Posts |
Posted - 09/21/2011 : 23:34:01 [Permalink]
|
| Mathematica is nice software... sounds like this guy's ego is massive though |
"Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people."
-Giordano Bruno
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge."
-Stephen Hawking
"Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable"
-Albert Camus |
|
|
|
 |
|
Anyone remember that one book...
