Wolfram|Alpha - the Next Big Thing?

[irmongoose]

Stephen Wolfram (http://blog.wolfram.com/2009/03/05/wolframalpha-is-coming/), via DF (http://daringfireball.net/linked/2009/03/10/wolfram):

Mathematica has been a great success in very broadly handling all kinds of formal technical systems and knowledge.
But what about everything else? What about all other systematic knowledge? All the methods and models, and data, that exists?
Fifty years ago, when computers were young, people assumed that they’d quickly be able to handle all these kinds of things.
And that one would be able to ask a computer any factual question, and have it compute the answer.
But it didn’t work out that way. Computers have been able to do many remarkable and unexpected things. But not that.
I’d always thought, though, that eventually it should be possible. And a few years ago, I realized that I was finally in a position to try to do it.

It's called Wolfram|Alpha (http://www.wolframalpha.com/), and it's launching this May.

I guess it's about time we finally get the answer to life, the universe, and everything. In real life.



irmongoose

[Mr. lax]

Wow, i wonder what happens if you ask it the meaning of life?

[steve2112]

Wow, i wonder what happens if you ask it the meaning of life?

It makes you wait 7.5 million years, then spits out a seemingly random number. Then, to find out the question, it tells you that you need to build a second, more powerful WolframAlpha.

[Mr. lax]

It makes you wait 7.5 million years, then spits out a seemingly random number. Then, to find out the question, it tells you that you need to build a second, more powerful WolframAlpha.

That was the perfect answer, absolutely amazing

[steve2112]

That was the perfect answer, absolutely amazing

Thanks!

Can you tell I've read the Guide trilogy once or twice. OK, maybe 15 or 20 times. And listened to the radio series. :D

Seriously, I used to re-read the entire trilogy (all 5 books) once a year. I've been slacking the past couple of years, though.

[Mr. lax]

Thanks!

Can you tell I've read the Guide trilogy once or twice. OK, maybe 15 or 20 times. And listened to the radio series. :D

Seriously, I used to re-read the entire trilogy (all 5 books) once a year. I've been slacking the past couple of years, though.

Oooh, i'v never read the books. I should get on that

[steve2112]

Oooh, i'v never read the books. I should get on that

I've only watched the movie once, just to say I had seen it. Of course, it is tough for me as a Douglas Adams fanboy to gripe about how different the movie is from the books. Every incarnation of the story has been different, on purpose. Adams wrote the radio series, the books, and the TV series, and they were all different from each other. They weren't just adaptations of the same thing.

If you like the Monty Python style of comedy, you should read the books, although the first three are by far the best. You may also want to check out his Dirk Gently books.

[retroneo]

Here's a 10 minute video demonstrating it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYhLsQPHNas

The bit that got me 8:10 onwards, but the whole thing is pretty good.

Asking it to check out if there is a correlation between serum potassium levels and LDL cholesterol levels... Pretty amazing.

[question fear]

Anyone watch "Angel the Series" and immediately think "Wolfram and Hart" every time they hear Wolfram/Alpha?

[Mr. lax]

Here's a 10 minute video demonstrating it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYhLsQPHNas

The bit that got me 8:10 onwards, but the whole thing is pretty good.

Asking it to check out if there is a correlation between serum potassium levels and LDL cholesterol levels... Pretty amazing.

Thats crazy, having a basic knowledge of such things and seeing that... I want it to launch soon

[cal6n]

It was the instant DNA sequencing that dropped my jaw...

This will change everything.

[t0mat0]

Got a lot of bioinformaticians and others watching keenly - some will be having access to demo v. soon.

[miles01110]

I have access to the preview of Alpha. It's pretty neat, and definitely offers different services than standard Google. As one would expect from Wolfram, most of its advantages cater to the science community.

[unid]

Looks like a world changing tool, and it launches today 7pm CST. Is this the nerds best new friend?

[unid]

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/719/wolfram.jpg

[sir Mudkip]

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/6254/wolfram.png

hahahahaha:D

[babyjenniferLB]

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/6254/wolfram.png

hahahahaha:D

Dang you beat me too it.

[Decrepit]

Just think what this tool will be like in 30, 90, 365 days...

Now that there is a decent tool that can sift mountains of data, the truly brilliant can excel.

And I can watch! I have no illusions about where I am on the IQ scale when I see the kinds of things real scientists can do.

BUT! How many scientists get paid to rebuild OS X on a PowerMac after it's donated to a museum? Huh? Well? That's what I thought.

:)

[sushi]

Just think what this tool will be like in 30, 90, 365 days...
I hope so as I stumped it 4 times with 4 questions.

I do like the answer to "What is the meaning of life?" question that was posted above.

[Mr. lax]

I'm so impressed with this thing... Meaning of life (http://www39.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=what+is+the+meaning+of+life)

[steve2112]

I'm so impressed with this thing... Meaning of life (http://www39.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=what+is+the+meaning+of+life)

I love that. I did manage to stump it by asking the average velocity of a laden swallow, however. :)

[gauchogolfer]

I like that you can download the results as a Mathematica notebook, but I also was able to stump it more times than not. Looks like a nice start, though.

[Mr. lax]

Its easy to stump. But lets bear in mind that its still a beta!

[ravenvii]

I love that. I did manage to stump it by asking the average velocity of a laden swallow, however. :)

Well, obviously it was stumped, you didn't tell it whether it's the European or the African swallow.

[Iscariot]

I typed in "boobs?" and proceeded to be underwhelmed.

[Teh Don Ditty]

I wish I had this when I was failing calculus in college.

It's pretty neat so far, I expect it to get better as we go on.

[steve2112]

Well, obviously it was stumped, you didn't tell it whether it's the European or the African swallow.

True, but I was hoping it would be able to ask me that. Or at least answer "I don't know that...AAAAHHH!!"

[irmongoose]

Though this query does seem to yield an interesting answer:

estimated average cruising airspeed of an unladen European swallow



irmongoose

[bartelby]

Seriously, I used to re-read the entire trilogy (all 5 books) once a year. I've been slacking the past couple of years, though.

I've done for the last 10 years.

Plus listen to the audiobooks frequently and the original radio series and watch the TV series.:o

The recent film, however, I've watched once.

[neonblue2]

Here are some I've tried.

"meaning of death (http://www34.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=meaning+of+death)" - Extrapolated from you know where.
"x=(-b+-squareroot((b^2)-4(a)(c)))/(2a) (http://www08.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=x%3D%28-b%2B-squareroot%28%28b%5E2%29-4%28a%29%28c%29%29%29%2F%282a%29)" - This thing produces perfect pics for homework. Too bad I graduated last year...
"how are you (http://www08.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=how+are+you)" - Try asking it personal questions.
"june 20 1991 whyalla (http://www08.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=june+20+1991+whyalla)" - Guess why this is important.

Actually, this is going to be worse than Wikipedia for schools. Whereas Wikipedia can sometimes be used incorrectly to gain false data (by some students - not all) Wolfram|Alpha poses the problem that complex algebra homework is just one click away from the answer.

[guifa]

Here are some I've tried.
Actually, this is going to be worse than Wikipedia for schools. Whereas Wikipedia can sometimes be used incorrectly to gain false data (by some students - not all) Wolfram|Alpha poses the problem that complex algebra homework is just one click away from the answer.
It's been one click away for a while, just most people don't happen have to have a copy of (the rather pricey) Mathematica on their machines.

But yeah, it's like people who would before just look up words one by one by one in a dictionary for foreign language classes now just go to google translate (and altavista babelfish before that), even though it actually probably makes their work even worse than if they did the word-by-word dictionary hunt.

[OwlsAndApples]

Here are some I've tried.



That quadratic formula one would have been so handy!

[Mr. lax]

I love that. I did manage to stump it by asking the average velocity of a laden swallow, however. :)

Its fixed now. Try again

[niuniu]

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/6254/wolfram.png

hahahahaha:D

lol 42 :D

[DoFoT9]

forgive me for bringing up this thread, but it has to be done! its a very good concept.

im afraid im missing the point of it, i get that it can convert things and give you information about a specific place (it doesnt know where i live eheh).. but what else is this useful for??