Business, Innovation and Managing Life (July 31, 2024)

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-qa Questions include: What can you tell us about the next Wolfram Language release? What are you most excited to see added to the language? - Do you worry about the increasing appearance of incompetence in the world? - ​The version numbers do get fuzzy over time.... Are you thinking about using years instead? It would be clearer how old your version is.... - Any advice for autodidacts? How does one turn a personal curiosity or question about science into a structured project that can be published, as you often do? - Do you think AI will take away some human autonomy, ultimately making humans less intelligent overall as they rely on AI too much? - ​​How do you think the patent system could be improved by AI? - I wonder if we will go through a cycle of trusting AI far too much for answers to our questions, and then when we get too much incorrect information we give up and move to a position of total distrust. Where do you think we will end up? - What has been your favorite place/country to visit? Is there someplace you have yet to visit that you would like to? - What is like starting one's first business? I'm just wondering because I don't personally know anyone who has a business. - On that topic, if you had to start an innovation-intensive business nowadays, requiring R&D before revenues, would you go the VC route or find ways to bootstrap it (and if so, how)? - Can AI systems be effectively applied to customer support roles, or is there too large of a security vulnerability? - Can you elaborate on your experience expanding your business and products to be used by others whose language(s) you don't speak? -​​ What's your favorite new revelation or idea you read in your recent deep dive into philosophy? - How often do you revisit your own personal goals in life and in your career? What are some things you look at that make you feel accomplished, whether small or big?