[b]John von Neumann
When we talk mathematics, we may be discussing a secondary language built on the primary language of the nervous system.[/b]
I’ll bet that goes back to to a complete understanding of existence itself.
It is just as foolish to complain that people are selfish and treacherous as it is to complain that the magnetic field does not increase unless the electric field has a curl. Both are laws of nature.
So much for memes, right Satyr?
I would like to make a confession which may seem immoral: I do not believe absolutely in Hilbert space any more.
No strings attached? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert_space
By and large it is uniformly true in mathematics that there is a time lapse between a mathematical discovery and the moment when it is useful; and that this lapse of time can be anything from 30 to 100 years, in some cases even more; and that the whole system seems to function without any direction, without any reference to usefulness, and without any desire to do things which are useful.
Come on, just one example please.
The calculus was the first achievement of modern mathematics and it is difficult to overestimate its importance. I think it defines more unequivocally than anything else the inception of modern mathematics; and the system of mathematical analysis, which is its logical development, still constitutes the greatest technical advance in exact thinking.
For most though this is the equivalent of long division.
You don’t have to be responsible for the world that you’re in.
Even as you’re fucking it up, Mr. President.