Infine vorrei avanzare qualche congettura sulle ripercussioni che le macchine calcolatrici elettroniche digitali avranno sulla matematica. Ho già accennato al fatto che l'ACE svolgerà il lavoro di circa diecimila calcolatori umani; c'è da aspettarsi dunque che il calcolo manuale su larga scala scomparirà.

The view that machines cannot give rise to surprises is due, I believe, to a fallacy to which philosophers and mathematicians are particularly subject. This is the assumption that as soon as a fact is presented to a mind all consequences of that fact spring into the mind simultaneously with it. It is a very useful assumption under many circumstances, but one too easily forgets that it is false. A natural consequence of doing so is that one then assumes that there is no virtue in the mere working out of consequences from data and general principles.