Even now the journals often charge for publishing in them. When this suggestion becomes a law, all will charge, and substantially more. The money for publication charges will come from the same government grant, and people will still pay for that, but in a different fashion.
In order for journals to exist, someone must pay. Granted, there have been attempts at all-electronic journals and preprint archives, like arxiv.org. However, for many reasons (good and bad) a peer-reviewed journal is still the way to publish, and it should/will remain that way.
Many in this thread have attacked mainstream scientists for
criticizing Wolfram's book without reading it. While some scientists
are probably guilty of this, in general, such insinuations are far
from the truth. The scientific establishment has tried to view
Wolfram's creation without prejudice before making any verdicts. In
particular, I have reviewed
ANKOS for a public colloquium at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical
Physics. The colloquium was later followed by a thoughtful discussion,
with some of the most influential physicists of our time (a Nobel
Prize winner and the Vice President of the National Academy of
Sciences among them) sharing their thoughts about the book's contents.
Stephen Wolfram chose to ignore this and many other serious
discussions with adequately trained people. He has chosen not to
participate in one-on-one public debates with some of the senior
physicists willing to challenge his interpretation of the
world. Instead he has focused his energy on advertising the book among
those whose background is simply not enough to make critical
scientific judgments. Make your own conclusions.
The audio, video, and slides of my review and the discussion that
followed are available at the above link, and they should be
accessible to anyone with a basic high school knowledge of science.
Slashdot Mirror
Even now the journals often charge for publishing in them. When this suggestion becomes a law, all will charge, and substantially more. The money for publication charges will come from the same government grant, and people will still pay for that, but in a different fashion. In order for journals to exist, someone must pay. Granted, there have been attempts at all-electronic journals and preprint archives, like arxiv.org. However, for many reasons (good and bad) a peer-reviewed journal is still the way to publish, and it should/will remain that way.
Stephen Wolfram chose to ignore this and many other serious discussions with adequately trained people. He has chosen not to participate in one-on-one public debates with some of the senior physicists willing to challenge his interpretation of the world. Instead he has focused his energy on advertising the book among those whose background is simply not enough to make critical scientific judgments. Make your own conclusions.
The audio, video, and slides of my review and the discussion that followed are available at the above link, and they should be accessible to anyone with a basic high school knowledge of science.