Is Stephen Wolfram Ahead of His Time?

It has been almost ten years since Wolfram published A New Kind of Science. To this day I do not know of a well paid collective effort to understand what he found. I read the book and I am very impressed, but unless and until I get my hands on enough processors will I understand what he found, really.

I do not have a grant to do this work. I do not know of any group doing this successfully.

Will we have to wait twenty, or  more years before all of us understand what he did? Or was he just wrong?

I tend to believe the former.

Linux?

From IBM we get:

"Inside the beast itself, Sequoia is expected to contain more than 1.6 million processors, thought to be IBM Power chips. The system is also reportedly to have 1.6TB of memory and will run Linux. The open source operating system commands approximately 85 percent market share in the high performance computing field. Windows meanwhile is relegated to less than five percent market share, according to industry estimates."


Why Linux?

IBM Readies Monster Supercomputer

The powerful supercomputer will perform at speeds 20 times faster than the runner-up, also from IBM.

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Obama Says Failing to Act Could Lead to a ‘Catastrophe

Mr. Obama used his presidential platform to address concerns about his economic recovery plan, which has won little Republican support.

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The Chess Master

President Obama is like a championship chess player, always several moves ahead of friend and foe alike. He’s smart, deft, elegant and subtle.

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Scientists Crunch Data to Build an Evolutionary Tree of Life

For years now researchers have sequenced DNA from thousands of species from jungles, tundras and museum drawers. They have used supercomputers to crunch the genetic data and have gleaned clues to how today’s diversity of species evolved over the past 450 million years. There’s just one problem. They have no way to visualize it...

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Darwin, Ahead of His Time, Is Still Influential

It is a testament to Darwin’s extraordinary insight that it took almost a century for biologists to understand the essential correctness of his views.

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Senate Clears Path for Vote on $838 Billion Stimulus

By a razor-thin margin, the Senate advanced the $838 billion economic stimulus bill, clearing the way for a final vote on Tuesday.

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Al Gore nabs elusive award triple crown: Oscar, Nobel, Gramm

Former vice president Al Gore keeps racking up the hardware in his campaign to fight global warming. First An Inconvenient Truth, his documentary on climate change, nabbed an Academy Award for best documentary. (Although the Oscar actually went to director Davis Guggenheim, Gore gave an acceptance speech.) Then he was awarded, along with the ..

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Grammy - Winners (2009)

Alison Krauss and Robert Plant cleaned up at the 51st Grammys, winning Album of the Year, Record of the Year and 2 others. Radiohead won Best Alternative Album, Lil Wayne won Best Rap Album, and Coldplay won 3 Grammys, including for Best Rock Album and Best Song.

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Will Bolivia Be Ruined or Improved Because of Electric Cars?

With growing speculation that electric cars and other energy efficient vehicles will soon dominate markets worldwide, Bolivia is a nation that perhaps stands to benefit (or suffer) more than any other from the energy revolution. The reason: lithium.

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How to think like a mathematician

Mathematicians are often considered to be a world apart, more Archimedes than average Joe. However, a new book sets out shortcuts that can give anyone with an interest a head start in mathematical thinking.How to Think Like a Mathematician, by Dr Kevin Houston, a maths lecturer at the University of Leeds, aims to be a one-stop guide to the tricks

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A New Puzzle Challenges Math Skills

KenKen, which starts in The New York Times today, is a new numerical logic puzzle from Japan.

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Gmail Poised to Surpass Hotmail by End of 2009

The growth of Google's Gmail service is accelerating and, if current trends continue, it could surpass Windows Live Hotmail by the end of this year.Between December 2007 and December 2008, Gmail's number of unique monthly visitors in the United States grew 43%, from 20.8 million to 29.6 million, according to ComScore.

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Will the Incas become the New Arabs?

Bolivia is the site of some of the biggest lithium fields. This element, the third in the periodic table of the elements, after hydrogen and helium; is going to be more and more important in the making of batteries. With coming electric cars, the reader may perhaps imagine how important this resource is. We are talking here of billions of dollars.

Evo Morales is the first Aymara indian ever to govern Bolivia.

He has promised to use that wealth for the benefit of Incas.

This is a historic opportunity for this South American country. I felt the same way when in the early seventies it was becoming more and more clear that the price of oil could not go but up. Sadly after more than thirty years, all I can report about that Arab renaissance I was hoping for, is that the money coming from oil resources went mainly into wasteful and decadent lifestyles of the Arab kings.

I hope we don't get a new slew of Inca Kings wasting away the wealth of their people.

So far President Evo Morales has shown prudence and wisdom. This has to continue. Long Live the Inca. A new era must begin for the people that moved to this continent more than ten thousand years ago.

Iran’s China Option

Can Iran manage a Chinese-style reform where its Islamic hierarchy endures through change, or does opening to America equal Soviet-style implosion?

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In Global Economic Crisis, Mexico Is Resilient - NAM

New America Media is a nationwide association of over 700ethnic media organizations representing the development of a more inclusive journalism. Founded in 1996 byPacific News Service, New America Media promotes ethnic media by strengthening the editorial and economic viability ofthis increasingly influential segment of America's communicatio

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The Milky Way Poll

The results of the poll were.

CAN YOU SEE THE MILKY WAY AT NIGHT?

4 Yes
1 No
1 Don't know
5 Too much light in my town


My readers are astronomically savvy. Only one doesn't know,  4 must live in small towns with no light pollution, the  ones that said no could've also chosen the non exclusive answer too much light.


I cannot see it in Chilpancingo, too much light in this town. Also we have too much smoke because old traditions among peasants make them burn their fields.


Thanks

Oil Prices: Get Ready for the Rebound

Oil bears claimed victory Friday, pushing crude down as much as 6% before finishing down about 2% as grim employment data underscored the dismal shape of the U.S. economy.

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The Destructive Center

President Obama’s pursuit of bipartisanship, warped his economic strategy. The cuts imposed by “centrists,” have led to an inadequate, insufficient stimulus bill.

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