It’s been an interesting evening while Stephen Wolfram launches his new computational knowledge engine ‘WolframAlpha‘. There were some fits and starts, but I have been able to ask it some interesting questions.
The approach reminds me of Thinking Machines Wide Area Information Server (WAIS) and Gopher from the late 1980′s. I know that Stephen Wolfram worked at Thinking Machines and I don’t know if he was involved with the WAIS project, but it certainly was a fundamental influence on WolframAlpha. WAIS was ultimately sold to AOL in 1995, just as the World Wide Web was forming.
WolframAlpha is easily stumped. But then you ask it a question that fans out into an amazing array of results from wide and varied data sources. TEDChris has side by side comparison of seven queries given to WolframAlpha and Google. A helpful illustration of the differences between the two philosophies. When the answer isn’t a precise number, WolframAlpha will try to reduce the question to something it can answer precisely. If the answer is a precise or computed number WolframAlpha can produce an elegant and concise response, though much of the supporting data appears to be older sources than those revealed in similar Google searches. While powerful in certain domains (such as math, chemistry, census data), the result is a service that may produce what you need or nothing useful at all. Here are some funny queries of interest:
There is a certain level of hubris in the idea all knowledge can be contained, maintained, and computed centrally. WolframAlpha is a ‘come to the mountain’ experience. In contrast, Google’s shotgun response relies on the distributed nature of the internet, counting and weighing the edges between ideas, often responding with a myriad of links relying on the user to be the final filter.
Both systems have a place in my toolbox.
(See also: WolframAlpha: query interface)
(See also: Introducing WolframAlpha)
(See also: WAIS: Wide Area Information Server)
(See also: TEDChris: WolframAlpha vs Google)
(See also: TechCrunch: Putting Wolfram Alpha To The Test: Not Super-Impressed)