History of Science & Technology Q&A (February 9, 2022)

Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about the history of science and technology as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-qa

Questions include: I think that there has been a concerted and focused effort to give greater emphasis to STEM education since WWII. Has the history of science been left out in this process? - Nassim Taleb points out that engineering precedes theory, even in complicated projects such as jet propulsion. Can you think of historical counter-examples when theory preceded engineering? - Can you talk about some times in history when scientific knowledge was destroyed and why that occurred? - What is the history of Ivy League? Why are those universities so prestigious? - How does science progress from outside of the academic process? - What do you make of the work being undertaken to lab grow woolly mammoths in a collaboration between a team at Harvard and the company Colossal and its potential in curbing the thawing of permafrost to mitigate the impact of the release of all the built up carbon? - Do you believe that Fermat really solved Fermat's Last Theorem with a "truly marvelous demonstration", or was his solution probably not mathematically rigorous? - What is your opinion on polymathy in the modern age of specialization? - ​How has our understanding of time changed over history? - What do you think is the limit of human understanding, or is there a limit?