I don't know if the vehement dislike for Wolfram is all necessarily rooted in the same underlying cause. I suspect different people have different reasons for it.
I think there is a kind of idealized scientist that nerds want to look up to. A great sense of humility, a clear sense of purpose, an unwavering commitment to reason and rationality. Yet I can think of no famous scientist that actually fits that mold.
Another poster brings up Kanye West, someone that people seethe over that he isn't humble enough.
I read in the parent's comment a sense of great frustration, that somehow Wolfram isn't being sufficiently reverent to someone who they clearly idolize. I can almost see spittle forming at the corners of their mouth. It makes me a little sad.
Wolfram certainly doesn't do himself any favors by reinforcing the narrative that he has a big ego, and always working in a reference to his book (which I think this essay is much more appropriate for then how he shoe-horns it into his other writing).
But I get it. People don't like it when you toot your own horn. Although if I spent ten years writing a giant science tome I'd probably want to bring it up all the time as well. I suspect Wolfram is aware of this perception of him (I think I've actually read him mention it before). I kind of hope he ignores it though.
> But I get it. People don't like it when you toot your own horn
You have a point. But often enough people do not like it (only) when others toot their horn. They have no qualms about tooting their own horn (usually under some notion of "promoting yourself").
I think there is a kind of idealized scientist that nerds want to look up to. A great sense of humility, a clear sense of purpose, an unwavering commitment to reason and rationality. Yet I can think of no famous scientist that actually fits that mold.
Another poster brings up Kanye West, someone that people seethe over that he isn't humble enough.
I read in the parent's comment a sense of great frustration, that somehow Wolfram isn't being sufficiently reverent to someone who they clearly idolize. I can almost see spittle forming at the corners of their mouth. It makes me a little sad.
Wolfram certainly doesn't do himself any favors by reinforcing the narrative that he has a big ego, and always working in a reference to his book (which I think this essay is much more appropriate for then how he shoe-horns it into his other writing).
But I get it. People don't like it when you toot your own horn. Although if I spent ten years writing a giant science tome I'd probably want to bring it up all the time as well. I suspect Wolfram is aware of this perception of him (I think I've actually read him mention it before). I kind of hope he ignores it though.