By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    data analytics in sports industry
    Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
    6 Min Read
    data analytics on nursing career
    Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
    8 Min Read
    data analytics reveals the benefits of MBA
    Data Analytics Technology Proves Benefits of an MBA
    9 Min Read
    data-driven image seo
    Data Analytics Helps Marketers Substantially Boost Image SEO
    8 Min Read
    construction analytics
    5 Benefits of Analytics to Manage Commercial Construction
    5 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Wolfram Talks About Wolfram Alpha
Share
Notification Show More
Latest News
big data mac performance
Data-Driven Tips to Optimize the Speed of Macs
News
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
Artificial Intelligence
data analytics in sports industry
Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
Big Data
data analytics on nursing career
Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
Analytics
data analytics reveals the benefits of MBA
Data Analytics Technology Proves Benefits of an MBA
Analytics
Aa
SmartData Collective
Aa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Uncategorized > Wolfram Talks About Wolfram Alpha
Uncategorized

Wolfram Talks About Wolfram Alpha

Daniel Tunkelang
Last updated: 2009/04/07 at 3:05 AM
Daniel Tunkelang
4 Min Read
SHARE

I felt pretty lucky to get an early preview of Wolfram Alpha, but real insiders like Rudy Rucker get personal demos from Wolfram himself. Rucker not only published a post about his conversation but also posted a “slightly condensed” hour-long podcast of the interview.

I listened to the whole hour. My biggest surprise is at how much Wolfram emphasizes the natural language interface, which I’d thought from my own preview was less of a focus–and even the system’s weakest link. In fact, when  Rucker asks if there will be a manual offering advanced users a list of expressions akin to those in Mathematica, Wolfram says no, that users are lazy, ontologies never line up, and that the system will figure out what the user means. Of course, I now question my assumption that Wolfram Alpha’s real goal or potential is to act as a service to use in other applications.

At the same, Wolfram says that he envisions “a new field of knowledge-based computing.  Imagine a spreadsheet that can pull in knowledge about the entries.” I heard that and then expected him to explain a vision around an API, but he continued to explain that the interface from a spreadsheet woul…

More Read

big data improves

3 Ways Big Data Improves Leadership Within Companies

IT Is Not Analytics. Here’s Why.
Romney Invokes Analytics in Rebuke of Trump
WEF Davos 2016: Top 100 CEO bloggers
In Memoriam: Robin Fray Carey

I felt pretty lucky to get an early preview of Wolfram Alpha, but real insiders like Rudy Rucker get personal demos from Wolfram himself. Rucker not only published a post about his conversation but also posted a “slightly condensed” hour-long podcast of the interview.

I listened to the whole hour. My biggest surprise is at how much Wolfram emphasizes the natural language interface, which I’d thought from my own preview was less of a focus–and even the system’s weakest link. In fact, when  Rucker asks if there will be a manual offering advanced users a list of expressions akin to those in Mathematica, Wolfram says no, that users are lazy, ontologies never line up, and that the system will figure out what the user means. Of course, I now question my assumption that Wolfram Alpha’s real goal or potential is to act as a service to use in other applications.

At the same, Wolfram says that he envisions “a new field of knowledge-based computing.  Imagine a spreadsheet that can pull in knowledge about the entries.” I heard that and then expected him to explain a vision around an API, but he continued to explain that the interface from a spreadsheet would  use natural language. I don’t know whether Wolfram has actually thought this through, or if he can appreciate the perspective of an application developer depending on consistency from a software service. Maybe I underestimate him. Needless to say, I’m a lot closer to my initial skepticism again.

What is interesting from a non-technical perspective is that Wolfram sees Wolfram Alpha as doing for NKS what word processors and databases did for Turing’s theory of computation, i.e., proving the value of his grand opus through its consumerization. I’m give him credit for putting his credibility on the line this way, but I think he’s taking a big risk here.

The podcast is a bit rambling, but it’s primary source material–and I found it enlightening enough to devote an hour to it (while writing this blog post).  I suggest skimming Rucker’s write-up first, and then deciding whether you have the patience to listen to the whole podcast.

Link to original post

Daniel Tunkelang April 7, 2009
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

big data mac performance
Data-Driven Tips to Optimize the Speed of Macs
News
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
3 Ways AI Has Helped Marketers and Creative Professionals Streamline Workflows
Artificial Intelligence
data analytics in sports industry
Here’s How Data Analytics In Sports Is Changing The Game
Big Data
data analytics on nursing career
Advances in Data Analytics Are Rapidly Transforming Nursing
Analytics

Stay Connected

1.2k Followers Like
33.7k Followers Follow
222 Followers Pin

You Might also Like

big data improves
Big DataJobsKnowledge ManagementUncategorized

3 Ways Big Data Improves Leadership Within Companies

6 Min Read
Image
Uncategorized

IT Is Not Analytics. Here’s Why.

7 Min Read

Romney Invokes Analytics in Rebuke of Trump

4 Min Read

WEF Davos 2016: Top 100 CEO bloggers

14 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

data-driven web design
5 Great Tips for Using Data Analytics for Website UX
Big Data
giveaway chatbots
How To Get An Award Winning Giveaway Bot
Big Data Chatbots Exclusive

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US

© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.

Removed from reading list

Undo
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?