Science is a cumulative, fairly collegial venture. But every so often a maverick, working in self-imposed solitude, bursts forth with a book that aims to set straight the world with a new idea. Some of these grand schemes spring from biology, some from physics, some from mathematics. But what they share is the same unnerving message: everything you know is wrong.

... By short-circuiting the traditional formalities of scientific publication, Stephen Wolfram has managed to offend not just scientists who think he is wrong but also some who think he is right.

... Interesting ideas rarely spring up in isolation.

... Last year, MIT's Dr. Seth Lloyd created a stir on Edge.org when he proposed "Lloyd's hypothesis": "Everything that's worth understanding about a complex system can be understood in terms of how it processes information."