Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Stephen Wolfram hosts a live and unscripted Ask Me Anything about science and technology for all ages. Find the playlist of Q&A's here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxn-kpJHbPx0iSxtfL7Kj6yx-RBXk9Zkl

Originally livestreamed at: twitch.tv/stephen_wolfram

If you missed the original livestream of this episode, feel free to submit a question you would like Stephen to answer in a future Q&A livestream here: https://wolfr.am/12cczmv5J

00:00 Start stream
00:18 Why do we have a brain when all of our cells have a "brain" aka nucleus?
8:03 If I made a very tiny robot the size of a dust speck, what would be the hardest thing for it to understand about the world?
10:26 Why did evolution settle on cells as the basic unit of life\[LongDash]could there have been a completely different architecture?
23:42 If humans had evolved during the time of dinosaurs would we have had giant humans?
28:23 Is evolution still happening to humans in any meaningful way, or have we kind of stepped outside it?
34:36 Could there be fundamental computational limits to how complex biological organisms can become through evolution?
46:28 Why has evolution repeatedly converged on similar solutions—]like eyes, wings, and social behavior? Does that suggest deeper laws constraining biological design?
50:04 Perhaps pearls and seashells of gold instead of calcium?
51:31 ​​is the fact that we have a somewhat centralized and unified brain just an anatomical coincidence? octopuses are thought to have somewhat independent brains in each arm...
56:42 Do you think the little brains they create for computing in labs now have a consciousness?
1:02:50 Do you ever think that there are types of evolution that might be more efficient in computing? In nature an organism has a genome, but digital strategies don't have to follow the same rules, so just curious if you've thought in this area.
1:08:55 Why do humans not have the ability to turn half their brain off to sleep like dolphins? That seems like a useful survival tactic
1:13:31 How does the brain turn chemical signals into specific tastes like "sweet" or "bitter," and why do certain molecules taste the way they do?
1:23:26 End stream


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