The Stephen Wolfram Podcast

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about business, innovation, and managing life as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-business-qaTopics discussed: How companies succeed in focus, diversification and choosing the right partners - Experience with interviews, talks, live demos and media skills - AI strategy and the future of local LLMs - Learning environments, active thinking and meaningful education

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the future of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics discussed: How alien life would affect science - Probability and the origins of life - Computation, encoded intelligence and simulated models of civilizations - Alien math class

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics: Historical insights from Stephen's UK trip - Roger Penrose and the Wolfram Physics Project - Elliott 903 computer

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about business, innovation, and managing life as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-business-qaTopics discussed: Innovation, live Demos and leadership - AI Bubble, automation and the future of work - Company building and management - Global technology and development - Computational curiosities and fun ideas

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the future of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics discussed: AI bubble, trajectory, scaling & hardware - Tech reliability, control & agency - Pace of progress & our ability to keep up - AI in math & research practice

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics: Computation in antiquity to early machines - Computation and physical reality - Historical attitudes toward computing and AI - Cantor, continuum and computability - Automata in history & fiction - How scientists are remembered - Exploring science's landmarks

Stephen Wolfram hosts an unscripted Ask Me Anything about his life and times.Watch the original livestream on YouTube: https://youtu.be/TmIhKBTCUqM

By popular demand, Stephen Wolfram explores anecdotes and stories from his life.Watch the original livestream on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5ctmcRxEiYU

By popular demand, Stephen Wolfram explores anecdotes and stories from his life.Watch the original livestream on YouTube: https://youtu.be/YaSmXHHa0ng

By popular demand, Stephen Wolfram explores anecdotes and stories from his life.Watch the original livestream on YouTube: https://youtu.be/eW7yp6x1jC0

Stephen reads a recent blog from https://writings.stephenwolfram.com and then answers questions live from his viewers.Read the blog along with Stephen: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2025/08/i-have-a-theory-too-the-challenge-and-opportunity-of-avocational-science/Watch the original livestream on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0LCZTRy86ZY

By popular demand, Stephen Wolfram explores anecdotes and stories from his life.Watch the original livestream on YouTube: https://youtu.be/gqFtsDnuLP0

By popular demand, Stephen Wolfram explores anecdotes and stories from his life.Watch the original livestream on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pG8BgTy0130

By popular demand, Stephen Wolfram explores anecdotes and stories from his life.Watch the original livestream on YouTube: https://youtu.be/a8Xp4WCgIA4

By popular demand, Stephen Wolfram explores anecdotes and stories from his life.Watch the original livestream on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9MTJyjGXNsI

By popular demand, Stephen Wolfram explores anecdotes and stories from his life.Watch the original livestream on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/2oe4prdLzDI

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics: Shifts in scientific roles and fields - Personal journey into computation and research - Challenges in publishing and tracing physics work - Feynman and string theory

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the future of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics discussed: Breakthroughs in mathematics and new foundations - Paths for learning and practicing mathematics - Complexity and the limits of computation - The evolving nature of science

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about business, innovation, and managing life as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-business-qaTopics discussed: Education and self-learning - Patents and the innovation process - Computational thinking - Philosophy and ethics of AI - Decision-making and collaboration

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about business, innovation, and managing life as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-business-qaTopics discussed: Early academic experiences - Innovation and business dynamics - Evaluating AI companies and tools - AI Regulation - Career advice in a changing tech job market

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the future of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics discussed: Topics discussed: Optics and quantum computing - AI architectures and reasoning - Bioengineering and emerging tech - Automation and algorithm design - Technology path dependence

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics: Historical perspectives on knowledge sharing, collaboration and AI - Scientific creativity across time - Art, science and the evolution of modern expression.

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about business, innovation, and managing life as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: wolfr.am/youtube-sw-business-qaTopics discussed: Choosing the right college - Early business lessons & company mission - Balancing leadership with personal projects - Software risks & bug management - The role of AI in business.

Stephen Wolfram answers general questions from his viewers about science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics: The Big Bang and expansion of space - Mathematics and physical reality - Computational foundations of biology - The role of kids in science and technology

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics: Historical scientific problems and modern computation - Historical contingency in technology - Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS) - Visits to scientific historical sites - History of museums and ancient artifacts - Virtual particles in physics - Einstein's Unified Field Theory - Scientists as movie subjects

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the future of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics discussed: Personalized pedagogy and AI in education - Computer simulations vs. physical experimentation - Aging and longevity science AI, consciousness and human-machine interaction - Medical breakthroughs and disease eradication - Future of communication - Gene editing and CRISPR - Algorithmic decision-making

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about business, innovation, and managing life as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-business-qaTopics discussed: Using AI in daily work and research - Interfaces and the adoption of AI technology - Computation and the future of algorithms - Modern day skills and computational thinking - Productivity and procrastination - Innovation, markets, and globalization

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics: Alternate histories and missed scientific paths - How science is remembered and talked about - Scientific breakthroughs - How science gets done and who gets involved

Stephen Wolfram answers general questions from his viewers about science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics: Black hole mergers, event horizons and why nothing gets out - Time dilation and computing near black holes - Ions

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the future of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics discussed: The limits and future of software defined everything - Molecular design and biological engineering - Human enhancement and genome level modification

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about business, innovation, and managing life as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-business-qaTopics discussed: Wolfram Summer School - Computational thinking and education - Parenting and learning from family - Project habits, curiosity and life decisions

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics: AI milestones and conceptual shifts - Encounters with physicists - Attributes and personalities of influential thinkers - Naming conventions in science and technology

Stephen reads a recent blog from https://writings.stephenwolfram.com and then answers questions live from his viewers.Read the blog along with Stephen https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2025/05/what-if-we-had-bigger-brains-imagining-minds-beyond-ours/ Watch the original livestream on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qUIj_t-YbIk

Stephen reads a blog from https://writings.stephenwolfram.com and then answers questions live from his viewers.Read the blog along with Stephen: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2023/12/observer-theory/Watch the original livestream on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qm3Y6qxdOwM

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the future of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics discussed: Copyright and creative ownership in an AI world - AI built into personal systems - Data scraping, consent and privacy tradeoffs - AI roles in the real world - AI and the future of teaching and learning - First encounters with computers

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about business, innovation, and managing life as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-business-qaTopics discussed: Building companies that do real science - New frontiers in science, complex systems and generative art - Risks of algorithmic trading and LLMs in finance - Balancing science and profits - Blockchain ideas that aren't just buzzwords

Stephen Wolfram answers general questions from his viewers about science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics: Conscious experience and perception - Brain structure and sensory extension - Brain manipulation and individuality - Consciousness and artificial systems - Computational theory and the brain

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics: Studying the history of science - Contradictions and accuracy in historical research - History of memory research - Planck's constant

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the future of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaTopics discussed: Fusion energy and nuclear fuel design - AI reasoning, learning and scientific roles - Mathematics, computation and physical reality - Jobs and fields at risk from AI - Philosophy of knowledge and future roles

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about business, innovation, and managing life as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-business-qaTopics discussed: Starting and funding a biotech company - Thinking clearly and building ideas from scratch - Getting better at asking questions - Is college still worth it? - The future of remote workspaces - Words, language and how we talk.

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaQuestions include: Do you know anything about the history of vaccines? When was the first vaccine developed and for what? - Isn't some important part of how vaccines were discovered completely lost to history? - When was the crucial importance of epigenetics discovered or realized? - What have been your interactions with early-day or notable biotech people & companies (Genentech etc.) and interplay between your own projects/techs and their development if any? - I had no idea Alan Turing was the progenitor of morphogenesis!

Stephen Wolfram answers general questions from his viewers about science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaQuestions include: Books have been relatively unchanged—would you say that's a "technology" that has been mastered? - My son asks: Given there's a max amount of information you can store in a given region of space, how can we simulate complex systems (like brains or universes) without exceeding physical limits? - We're taught science discovers truth through observation and experiment. But in practice, I see science building mathematical models that work—sometimes treated as exact reality. How do you, as a scientist, separate calculation tools from physical truth in your actual work? Where does experience draw that line? - What lessons can we learn from the evolution of flight? Beyond the mechanics, Dawkins reflects In the book Flights of Fancy on the broader implications of flight evolution, considering what it reveals about natural selection, adaptation and the interconnectedness of life.

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the future of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaQuestions include: What is your view on photonic computing? - The Platonic solids have fascinated humans like us for years. Do you think the exploration of the four-dimensional hyper-Platonic solids may be useful? - Do you think there'll be, in the short-to-mid-term future, an AI architecture that manages to synthesize mental images to the level most humans do (mainly visual-spatial)? - Have you come across the synthetic biology field, e.g. biological computer chips, Neuralink? What is your opinion on such fields in science and the future? - Do you think training AI for generative video will end up with an internal model of physics?

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about business, innovation, and managing life as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-business-qaQuestions include: Did you see the recent news about the dire wolves coming back from extinction? Is there a genuine business for bringing back extinct animals?  - There are also scientists making hybrids by injecting extinct animal DNA into modern animals. Recently they made woolly mice. - But would our atmosphere sustain dinosaur life, considering there was more oxygen back then? - At the remarkable age of 15, you began doing things that many would consider grown-up. I'm just curious as to how you went about attacking things that you simply felt like attacking. There are some people who wonder about stuff but don't necessarily know where to begin. How did you get so emboldened, if you can recall what that felt like? - I am curious about the "health trackers" you currently use (without revealing anything too personal!). I see at the time, you used a Fitbit Charge 2 and ServiceConnect, etc. Do you still use these, or have you switched to an Apple Watch etc.? Asking because I love your idea of tracking all kinds of health data, and I especially agree that automated is best. - Going back to your answer to my question about AI agents, which I agree that most websites will be used for LLMs instead of humans, should Wolfram|Alpha's next product be like Alexa—perhaps called "Wolfie"? - How to build that sort of confidence, then? What if I overthink at all times? How to challenge if I'm old already? - ​​Should my next venture be based on an intellectual curiosity that might develop into something organically or a big ambition? - Do you think someone will come up with an internal fitness tracker which would be more accurate? - Is capital becoming more free to take risks or more constrained because of complexity of high-earning businesses? - How do you deal with real exogenous risks (i.e. global pandemic), with respect to innovation and commercialization thereof? - What are some early finance tips and tricks to teach kids to prepare them for the future? - ​​I feel like I became a friend with ChatGPT—is it healthy? - ChatGPT and my daily-driver LLMs definitely know and remember more about me than I do myself at this point! - That seems a great idea. In the "Computational X" program, why not something to teach financial literacy and key financial math (compounding etc.), notably for kids, in interactive forms? - ​​When designing humanoid robots, what do you think is a key component design of them?

Stephen Wolfram answers general questions from his viewers about science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaQuestions include: How would you, Stephen Wolfram, think about replacing textbooks in education? What are some better tools for the classroom? - Can you teach us how to be scientists? What's the first step? - Intellectual curiosity is required to be a good scientist. And moral character, to stand by what you find, even if controversial. - ​​If you can explain it in simple terms, you understand it. - ​​I wanted to be a scientist as a kid, but I was actively discouraged from doing that. What would you tell to a kid to encourage them? - How will new technology and especially GenAI change our education, and what role should parents play during this crucial transition? - Do you think it would be [good] to make some infrastructures to think more creatively, e.g. logging your thoughts and trying to dissect your mental models, etc.? - ​​In my experience, the kids that should become scientists start asking, "How do we know that?" early on. And for most adults (especially teachers!), that is the hardest question. - I heard that physicists still don't understand how friction works. Is that true? - How would you answer where this universe gets its "expanding substance" from? - Would you be open to the possibility of other mathematics than the one we use now? Would be happy to hear your thoughts on this subject. - Do you think that the emergence of AI in our lives marks the end of curiosity, or the beginning of an era where curiosity will grow even greater because it will be satisfied? - What effect do you think wide-scale adoption of LLMs will have on the boundary of the knowable? - How do you feel about integrating 3D models, animations, AI... overall media, to learning science? For example, having as output a 3D model and animation of flight path instead of just numbers and plain text on paper? - How would you think about encryption in the age of AI and LLMs? It seems like they would be able to pick up the patterns with ease once exposed. -  ​​Is it possible to build a compact mechanical SHA256 encryption device that will be resistant to solar flares?

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaQuestions include: Is there much history on scientists (well known or not) starting companies? - If Leibniz was around today, where do you think he would be working, what would he be doing if he was not in academia? - Any interesting suggestions for history to research? - What's the history of walking meetings? Were there notable practitioners before you? - Was the first GUI+mouse+keyboard predictable beforehand or was it a surprise at the time?

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the future of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaQuestions include: What roles do category and type theory play in our understanding and the future of mathematics? - ​​What would be an example of a hierarchy of types in theoretical physics? - Would you ever take a trip on Blue Origin or Space X ? Do you see more for the future of space travel happening sooner or later? - Do you think humans could/will evolve to adapt to space travel? - Say you could teleport to the Moon or Mars instead of travel by spaceship—would you take that travel option? - Space is a very hazardous place compared to Earth (radioactivity etc.). Chips in space would need to be very shielded and hence very expensive, I believe. - Why don't we use shielded nuclear waste to heat buildings (like in the basement attached to the HVAC system, in secure buildings)? - Closer to Earth, what do you see as the short-to-medium term future for inhabited orbital space stations and beyond that, in the longer-term future? - From genetic issues to space travel damage, do you think the main advances and solutions will come more from preventing or from repairing or an equal mix of both? - How would you think about AI-controlled humans if bionic brains become mainstream?

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the future of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaQuestions include: What, exactly, is an "AI agent"? "Agentic"? It seems like nobody knows what those words actually mean today. - Can you tell us about the future of media/information consumption? Will we become a society of "AI summaries" as our main form of information gathering? - Before AI summaries, there were encyclopedias and textbooks and CliffsNotes and such, and while they were useful and convenient, they never became de facto. - When will we get the first AI/robot news reporter? I see these being useful in cases of dangerous live broadcasting like hurricanes, to keep people up to date. - How far are we from LLMs generating a Stephen Wolfram–style long-form post, with similar elucidations, based on a short prompt of the key insight or topic? - When you say the teaching is delegated to the machine, are you saying that the machine is telling the student what to think about instead of just answering questions? - Can a sentient AI "understand" how humans learn? If we would delegate to them the teaching of human kids, would that be compatible with a biological point of view? - Have you ever considered entering the robotics space? A Wolfram Robotics, so to speak? - But if people delegate all calculations to the machines, then might it not happen that the machine actually learns to ask better questions than the humans can, since the machines have the experience built from the calculations and the humans don't? - What will AI not be able to do? Do you believe that something like that exists? - Tiny humans care about those questions about clouds and trees. - Robotic trade shows sound interesting. The company Boston Dynamics shows a lot of progress in the humanoid department. - Anything to say about the future of pi? (Happy Pi Day!) - ​​Do you expect LLM development to hit significant diminishing returns within the next 2–3 years? - Automated theorem proving is so interesting. I'm trying to figure out how to make a theorem prover that demonstrably collapses a/the wavefunction. Like Stephen said; quantum LLMs.

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about business, innovation, and managing life as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-business-qaQuestions include: Is academia the only real career path if one just wants to learn and do research? - What are the risks for using AI/LLMs to do my technical writing job so I can focus on prompt engineering for the future of my field? - You've at the very least been told all sorts of interesting things that you can't currently repeat publicly. Would you ever consider writing a book or articles that would be locked for x years? - How would you guarantee an AI doesn't break an NDA accidentally? - Will "LLM psychologist" be a future career path? - Are websites receiving fewer visits due to the rise of AI agent/assistant apps that provide advice on products or services? - I, Robot by Asimov is a highly recommended, excellent collection of problems with the three laws. - Any suggestions on how to get someone to review my papers? I'm an antisocial autodidact with no academic backing. It's been impossible to get anyone to even consider my work. - If you make better rules, people will find better loopholes. - What are your thoughts on how a business specifically can do high-quality science? Companies like big AI labs seem to be doing well in this respect. Are they a good model for other companies doing science in other fields? - Historically, how much effort have great scientists with important contributions put into showing, or "marketing," their ideas? - The best teachers are the ones that ask the right questions from the students. Not telling them what to think. - How is a STEM background useful in entrepreneurship?

Stephen Wolfram answers general questions from his viewers about science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaQuestions include: ​​Can you talk about lambda calculus? - Any thoughts on numerology? - My current favorite approximation to a constant (e, in this case) is (1 + 9^-4^(7*6))^3^2^85, which uses each of the digits 1–9 only once and is accurate to 18 septillion digits. - Atmospheric noise is about as random as we can get, I think. - How does IBM Watson AI stand against modern LLMs? - Would the LLM have the same reaction time to compete and press the buzzer as humans? - Is it possible someday we may predict the weather years in advance? - Well then, is weather a good random sequence? - How do you calculate wind speed if wind is just a pressure difference? - If the Earth started rotating in reverse, would that have an effect on weather? - What would it take to stabilize the weather (like using wind farms in reverse or controlling ground albedo or atmosphere composition) so that we know it exactly? - Can the Earth's tilt ever be affected? What kind of changes would this cause? - There is a rather large difference between what the ideal climate would be and what changes will mean trouble for us, given our current infrastructure. - Even the weather can't agree on what the weather should be.

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qaQuestions include: What is the history of game theory? What are some successful and less successful applications of this theory? Can you speak about John Nash's work? Did that have any influence on your automata work? - ​​I wonder if that code by Nash exists anywhere? It would be interesting to read. - Do you view the world as being governed by randomness or order? - Would you ever write a book intended to explain the history of the ruliad/Physics Project? - Have you studied the history of cognitive neurological abilities of scientists throughout the ages, things like long-term memory, imagination, creativity...? - Do scientists invent tools first and then look for a problem to use them on, or do they find a problem first and then invent the tool to crack it? - What is your favorite "age" of science? - How did early mechanical computers like the Babbage Engine influence modern computing? - Do you think Ada would have had more success in science and math today than she did when she was alive? - Would you say you research more of the history of people or history of their projects/research? Which do you find more useful?