Stephen Wolfram discusses Wolfram|Alpha: Computational Knowledge Engine
April 29th, 2009
There’s been great anticipation around Stephen Wolfram’s ambitious project to create a comprehensive “computational knowledge engine.” The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University will host a sneak preview of the Wolfram|Alpha system, and a discussion of its underlying technology and implications. Participants will include Wolfram|Alpha founder Stephen Wolfram and Professor of Law Jonathan Zittrain. Stephen Wolfram is the creator of Mathematica, the author of A New Kind of Science, and now the creator of Wolfram|Alpha. He is the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research.
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1. greg | May 12th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
In my tech circles the world is abuzz with news of this coming out of beta and indeed it will be interesting to see how the availability of all this data will effect the world of online research.
Mostly what surprises me about all of this is how everyone seems to be heralding this as the death of Google without understanding that the intent is completely different. I wrote a brief article yesterday explaining why I think that WolframAlpha is not a Google killer: http://www.sagerock.com/blog/wolframalpha-not-google-killer/
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
2. djones | May 12th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Brilliant article Greg. People are definitely entranced by the Google killer idea, but they will likely get a completely different feeling about it after they get to play with it. Wolfram himself described W|A in terms of the ecosystem of search options out there that you discuss, and recognizes the difference. How W|A fits into a web-based knowledge ecosystem currently represented/dominated by Wikipedia is a big question. How are tech circles thinking about that?